Just over a year after Jared Leto withstood a catalogue of sexual misconduct accusations published in AirMail, the BBC broadcast a documentary titled “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret.”
In it, director Alice McShane (“Russell Brand: In Plain Sight”) teams up with the reporter behind the AirMail story, Elena Clavarino, and BBC producer Jessica Sartenaer to set out the numerous allegations against Leto, the star of recent Hollywood movies including “Tron: Ares” and “Masters of the Universe” as well as the frontman of rock band 30 Seconds to Mars.
Ten women’s stories are featured in the resulting documentary, which was broadcast in the U.K. Thursday, of whom four allege criminal sexual conduct. Leto has denied all the claims, saying in a statement released via his reps: “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false.” (BBC Studios is handling international sales on the doc.)
After a whirlwind 24 hours, McShane, whose documentary on Brand won her a number of broadcasting awards, sat down with Variety to discuss how making “In Plain Sight” helped her with the Leto documentary, how she was able to paint a picture of the women’s allegations on a BBC budget and how Leto has not yet responded directly to the filmmakers.
