Yahoo Movies Jared Leto responds to House of Gucci criticism about his performance
House of Gucci star Jared Leto has said it's "okay" if people weren't keen on his performance in the Lady Gaga-led crime drama.
Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie charts the real-life romance of Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga), an outsider from humble beginnings, and fashion mogul Maurizio Gucci (Star Wars' Adam Driver) – a passionate-turned-rocky relationship that culminated in murder.
In it, Leto played Maurizio's cousin Paolo, an aspiring designer who – at least in the film – was never taken seriously by his father Aldo (Al Pacino) or hard-headed uncle Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons).
Related: What House of Gucci leaves out from the true story of Maurizio Gucci's murder
Leto's enthusiastic portrayal split opinion online, with some praising the comedic energy he brought to the character, while others slammed his outlandish on-screen behaviour and "Super Mario" attempt at an Italian accent. Either way, people had opinions.
"I can imagine [the reaction] because it's a big swing," the actor told Screen recently, when asked what he thought of the response. "I don't look at reviews, I don't look at critics or read comments, but I tried my very best. Paolo is the best I can do. If you don't like the work, that's okay.
"I had a blast playing it, I dug in as deep as I could," he added. "It's also that thing of if you're not pissing people off then you're doing something wrong. As an actor, if you want to put a dent in things you got to break things a bit, and not everyone's going to understand that. So if that's happening, then great."
Related: Lady Gaga's House of Gucci called both "mesmerising" and "a mess" in mixed first reactions
Reacting to criticism of the film from the Gucci family not so long ago, Scott told Total Film: "I tried to be as respectful as possible by being as factual as possible, and as factual as we can possibly imagine.
"Time and space sometimes has to jump because of the nature of the length of the film. But the people that were writing from the family to us at the onset were alarmingly insulting, saying that Al Pacino did not represent physically Aldo Gucci in any shape or form.
"And yet, frankly, how could they be better represented than by Al Pacino? Excuse me! You probably have the best actors in the world, you should be so f**king lucky."
House of Gucci is in cinemas now, and also available to pre-order on DVD and Blu-ray.
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