Jared Leto: Will he be a charming serial killer in his next film?

Jared Leto’s next big role could be that of a serial killer in The Little Things. What can we expect from him?

There’s a never-ending fascination with serial killers that make them a profitable theme in the film industry, whether they are fictional or based on real life incidents. And if a well-known actor plays the killer, it’s guaranteed to draw more attention to it. Such is the case with the upcoming crime thriller The Little Things, which is eyeing Jared Leto for the lead role.

According to Variety, Jared Leto is in talks to join the project alongside Denzel Washington and Rami Malek. The movie has John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) on board as writer and director, so we can expect a story with a generous dose of drama. But what will it be about?

The plot is really a no-brainer: a burned-out deputy sheriff, Deke (Washington), teams up with LASD detective Baxter (Malek) to catch a serial killer – Jared Leto’s role, if everything goes as expected.

The title of the movie comes from Deke’s ability to detect “the little things”, which proves to be very accurate, although his “willingness to circumvent the rules” puts Baxter in a dilemma. Oh, and Deke also has some dark secrets from his past, because why not?

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Back to Leto, he has shown his range and chameleon like talent throughout his career, with roles that go from troubled addicts (Requiem For a Dream), to different types of criminals (Panic Room and Chapter 27). If he ends up taking the role of the serial killer in The Little Things, we can expect a killer of the charming type that hides his monstrosity behind the image of a well-mannered, attractive man – think of a Ted Bundy type.

That is, of course, if he doesn’t go on the “physical transformation” path, which was the case for Dallas Buyers Club and Chapter 27, as that would make way for a whole new list of possibilities for the character, all of them with the big amount of emotion he always put into his characters, whether that makes us hate them or love them. What we can be sure of is that it won’t be anything like his portrayal of the Joker in Suicide Squad. I think he learned his lesson.

What the movie could possibly do without is the cliché of the “tormented sheriff with a dark past/secret”, which we see in almost every crime thriller, but if it truly proves to be an important element of the plot, then so be it.

The Little Things doesn’t have a projected release date yet, but we’ll keep you posted on further details.

Are you a Jared Leto fan? Do you think he can convincingly play a serial killer? Let us know in the comments.