Academy Award winner Jared Leto has compiled quite an esoteric career over the last 25 years, playing parts as varied as real life distance runner Steve Prefontaine, assassin Mark David Chapman, roles in the critically-acclaimed films Fight Club and Dallas Buyers Club, and a notoriously divisive portrayal of the Joker in Suicide Squad. His next project is Sony’s vampire antihero movie Morbius, and in the run-up to the film’s midsummer release, Leto has taken to Instagram to connect with his fans in a surprisingly direct way. On January 24th, he posted a short video encouraging his 10.3 million followers to contact him by phone, saying:
“Hey guys, it’s me, Jared Leto, your old friend. Uh, I miss you. I’ve been thinking about things. We’ve known each other for a long time and, uh, I should probably give you my phone number. It’s been a while. I’d love to hear from you. Send me a message. Tell me if you miss me. What’s going on? I’ll hit you back. The number’s (213) 335-2223. We will put it up on the screen as well. We love you, take care. Goodbye.”
The comments are naturally littered with fans questioning the authenticity of the number, with at least one person suggesting that it connects to a “marketing bot,” but few seem to have made the effort to actually contact the number. It turns out that calling it brings up an audio recording by the actor and musician, saying:
“Hello. Hey. Just kidding. Uh, it’s me, Jared. You got the right number. I’m not here right now, so send me a text and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Okay. Bye-bye.”
Sending a text message to the Los Angeles phone number, meanwhile, will trigger a link to be sent to your phone and prompt the following response:
“Boo. It’s Jared Leto. Yes it’s really me. Click this link to add yourself to my contacts so I can text you back. I can’t wait to talk to you.”
Clicking the link redirects to a mobile version of my.community.com, also listed at the top of Leto’s Instagram page, that asks for the user’s first and last name, gender identity, birthdate, city of residence, and email address. If you’re comfortable sharing that much personal information online (the data I personally entered was not, shall we say, entirely accurate), you’ll be returned to your text message to find a follow-up response:
“Holy guacamole, we’re text buddies now. I have to say this stuff, but everything after this is 100% me. Promise… Msg frequency will vary. Your carrier’s Msg&Data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.”
Whether or not Jared Leto and I are now “text buddies” remains to be seen, but I’ll post to the hashtag #Leto2133352223 over on Twitter to keep everyone updated. Meanwhile, Morbius arrives in theaters on July 31st.
