House of Gucci and the trouble with extreme actor makeovers

Jared Leto's transformation into the older, balding Paolo Gucci has inspired both ridicule and irritation. Are audiences tiring of actors' showy metamorphoses, asks Nicholas Barber.

Ridley Scott's lurid new true-crime drama, House of Gucci, chronicles the betrayal and murder that tore the Gucci fashion brand apart at the seams in the 1980s and 1990s. The film's social-climbing anti-heroine is Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), who pushes her diffident husband, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), to take over the family business, even if that means ousting Maurizio's uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) and his cousin Paolo (Jared Leto). Gaga is sure to be Oscar-nominated for her fiery performance. Leto's performance, though, is another matter. His woozy clowning, his sing-song mewling, and his ripe Italian accent belong in a sketch set in a pizza parlour on an old episode of The Muppet Show. But, in his defence, his acting is no more eccentric than his hair and make-up.

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Leto is probably better known for his sharp cheekbones, flowing flocks and all-round elfin prettiness than he is for his film roles, despite having won an Oscar. But in House of Gucci, the actor and rock star is disguised as a designer with a sagging double chin, a bulbous nose, straggly grey sideburns, and a gleaming bald pate. He is almost unrecognisable, so when images advertising the film went online in July, commentators were quick to praise him and the hair and make-up team for pulling off such an incredible feat.

Well, some commentators were, anyway. But just as many were quick to laugh, scream, splutter, and ask what on Earth was going on. "Dude looks like he got bit by a radioactive Jeffrey Tambor," wrote William Hughes at AV Club," [or] a high school senior who has started to apply old age make-up and somehow forgotten to ever stop." Elsewhere, the source of scorn wasn't the quality of the wig and the fake nose, but the fact that they had been used at all. "Why is Jared Leto in this role":[]}