Leto takes on Lennon assassin role

Updated 07.52 Fri Apr 18 2008
Keywords: murder, 27, Lennon, Chapter, John, Lindsay, Lohan, Leto, Jared

Jared Leto has been talking about his latest role as John Lennon's murderer in the film Chapter 27.

The feature debut from writer-director Jarrett Schaefer examines Mark David Chapman's obsession with the former Beatle and the book The Catcher in the Rye by looking at his life in the three days before the murder.

Leto put on some 60 pounds to play the assassin, but admitted it was a very small price to pay for the role

Leto put on some 60 pounds to play the assassin, but admitted it was a very small price to pay for the role.

He said: "It was really important. I don't know if I needed to really go as far as I did but it informed me, it educated me in a lot of different ways. It was the transformative nature of the part that I responded to, that challenge."

Lindsay Lohan also appears in the film as a Lennon fan named Jude, who befriends Chapman.

On working with the troubled star, Leto said: "I think that beyond the tabloid fodder and the sensational sides of her life, there's a very talented, very gifted young actress. That's what we respond to and that's who we were excited to work with, and she did a wonderful job."

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