Jared Leto has worked on a number of impressive films over the course of his career, often while sporting an off-kilter look – including in David Fincher’s 1999 controversial 1999 hit Fight Club. Recently, he revealed exactly why his character in the film, Angel Face, has such noteworthy style, as it turns out that Brad Pitt, who played the iconic Tyler Durden, is partly responsible for Leto’s bleach blond hair.
In a recent interview with GQ, Jared Leto revealed that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star Brad Pitt was one of the main reasons that he made the choice to bleach his hair in the cult classic. Talking about his experience making the David Fincher film, Leto said,
I remember bleaching my hair and my eyebrows white. We did one pass, and I think it was Brad Pitt, he said something about, 'Billy Idol.’ he was like, ‘Blonder!' So we went even whiter with it. I liked being on that set because I got to watch Brad. He’s incredibly loose, naturalistic; always does something very different take to take and that was interesting to see. Everyone on it just kind of felt like we were just getting into trouble and doing something that was potentially special but on the darker side of the universe.
While Jared Leto apparently always planned to sport lighter hair in Fight Club, it was apparently the suggestion of Brad Pitt that he go a bit extra with the look – saying that he should go super blond to achieve a Billy Idol style. The Oscar-winning actor went on to describe working with Pitt, and the unique atmosphere during the making of the movie.
Fans of Fight Club may remember the film's particularly violent bout between Leto’s Angle Face and Edward Norton’s character. In the interview Leto revealed that while they weren’t actually fighting for real, there were times when punches would actually connect:
The only thing that wasn’t real was we weren’t actually hitting each other, but we did get hit at times. It wasn’t like it was perfectly choreographed. It was as real-fake as you can get, those fights were.
Despite its cultural significance, Fight Club went on to earn just a single Academy Award nomination for Best Sound Editing. While the film wasn’t received particularly well by some, especially early on, it has since gathered a large cult following.
Some of the film's major stars have had pretty successful careers too. Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Jared Leto have all earned multiple Academy Award nominations since appearing in 1999's Fight Club. Just last year Brad Pitt earned his second Oscar for his performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. More recently, Leto has earned some love from the awards circuit for his performance in Netflix’s The Little Things.
While there’s no guarantee we will see Jared Leto and Brad Pitt sharing the big screen once again, fans of the cult hit can revisit Fight Club on Amazon right now. As for more recent film fare, be sure to check out CinemaBlend’s 2021 Release Schedule for the latest heading to the big screen near you.
