Jared Leto talks shocking weight loss for Dallas Buyers Club

Actor and rock star Jared Leto has revealed his rather straight-forward method for losing 40lbs to play a transsexual with AIDS in the forthcoming 'Dallas Buyers Club'.

Pictures of the 30 Seconds To Mars frontman emerged last Christmas as he was preparing for the role, snapped by his friend and celebrity photographer Terry Richardson.

The images were even more shocking than those seen of his co-star Matthew McConaughey – and they were pretty shocking.

[Shocking McConaughey pics show weight loss for new film]

Now he's said just how he dropped down to a weight of just 114lbs.

“I stopped eating,” he told TheWrap, rather bluntly.

“It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was 30 or 40 pounds. After a while I stopped counting. It changes the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you think.”

McConaughey was equally pragmatic, saying: “You just make a decision.”

[Matthew Fox didn't recognise himself in new film]

In the film, Leto plays Rayon, who contracts the HIV virus and then AIDS, and who starts an alternative medicine smuggling business with McConaughey's character Ron Woodruff.

Set in the 1980s, the film is based on a true story and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival over the weekend.

So far, the film, directed by Jean-Marc Vallee and also starring Jennifer Garner, is receiving serious Oscar buzz, with Leto's performance being the big surprise.

It's not the first time Leto's dramatic transformations have hit the headlines. Back in February 2006 Jared was snapped on the set of Mark Chapman biopic, 'Chapter 27', looking surprisingly filled-out.

The star had gained more than 67 pounds to play John Lennon's killer by drinking a nightly cocktail of microwaved ice cream, soy sauce and olive oil. He apparently put on weight so fast it gave him gout.

'Dallas Buyers Club' is due out on 7 February in the UK. Watch the trailer below.