Ridley Scott defends Jared Leto’s performance in his recent crime-drama film House of Gucci. Scott's newest release is also his second film of 2021, following the medieval epic The Last Duel, which bombed at the box office despite positive critical reviews. By contrast, House of Gucci has already beaten The Last Duel’s financial results but has received more mixed notices.

Alongside Adam Driver, Lady Gaga stars as Patrizia Reggiani, and the singer’s performance has received universal praise, with many predicting she'll receive her second Academy Award nomination for the role. Not all the performances from the film’s stars have been as well-received, however, and Leto’s turn as Paolo Gucci has been especially divisive. The actor donned a transformative amount of prosthetics and makeup for the part, leading many to wonder why he needed to be cast in the first place, and he leans the most heavily into House of Gucci's campy potential.

Now, in an interview with Total Film, Scott defends Leto from his critics, stating that he captured the real Paolo Gucci “quite nicely.” The director reveals that Leto had more work to do than the film’s other leads, as less was known about Paolo Gucci than the rest of the family, making it harder to replicate his accent and manner. In stark contrast to how it was described in reviews, Scott describes Leto’s performance as "not too overt." Check out Scott’s comments below:

Jared Leto, there's not a lot of information about [his character] Paolo, but there are pictures of Paolo and that's exactly what Paolo looks like. We found the pictures and Jared did what he did and dressed the way Paolo dressed. There's not a lot of Paolo on camera talking. And so that had to be, to a certain extent, imagined, but clearly Paolo was a very colorful and flamboyant man. The flamboyance of Paolo was quite nicely captured... And how could that be offensive? We paid attention to not getting too overt if we can avoid it.

Leto has been a controversial actor for a long time, with his performance as the Joker in Suicide Squad being particularly infamous. Leto is known for adopting the Method approach to acting, meaning that he stays in character for the majority of a film’s shooting schedule, even when he’s not on set. He has previously won an Academy Award and has worked with some of Hollywood's biggest names, including Denis Villeneuve and Darren Aronofsky, as well as Scott.

Leto is set to star as the titular character in the upcoming adaptation of Marvel’s Morbius. The film will release in theatres in 2022, and sees the actor switch superhero universes, moving from the DCEU to Sony's Spider-Man Universe. Fans of Leto will be more eager than ever to keep up with his career after his divisive, but memorable, performance in House of Gucci.