Jared Leto hadn’t made a movie in five years, but he shed an incredible 40 pounds to portray a transsexual with AIDS in “Dallas Buyers Club,” which opened to a packed house on Saturday night at the Toronto Film Festival.

He says, “I stopped eating. It wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was 30 or 40 pounds. After a while I stopped counting.”

His weight eventually plummeted to 114 pounds.

He described how losing so much weight affected him. “It changes the way you walk, the way you sit, the way you think,” he explained. Leto had essentially stopped creating films for the previous five years in order to focus on his main profession as the vocalist for the band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which tours and has sold millions of CDs to date. According to him, “Dallas Buyers Club” was the first picture that warranted taking a break from the hiatus. He assured his management that he would only take a break for a film that “he fell in love with,” and this story fit the bill.

As he was: The singer’s bony frame can be seen on set; he played a transvestite

Leto had to reassure fans in 2012 that he was healthy after appearing startlingly skinny when out in public while filming.

“Thanks for all the concern… energy a bit low but I’m doing ok over here!” he posted on Twitter.com.

Leto’s weight reduction made news last year when images of both starring actors surfaced. Both were still skinny when they arrived at the premiere, but they soon reverted to their regular sizes. Both their performances are expected to be in award discussions this season. He said of the weight loss: ‘Your body goes through weird stages. ‘ Sometimes it’s hard to hold on to water. But for me, it’s not about the most weight I can lose, it’s more to represent the character.’

‘Historically, people have done it for pursuit of self, to achieve a meditative state, so I’m hoping for that. It’s not necessarily a bad thing,’ he continued. ‘I’m playing a transsexual woman. I didn’t get involved in the project until a few weeks ago, three and a half weeks ago,’ he says of his role in the Jean-Marc Vallée-directed film, which marks his return to the big screen following 2009’s Mr Nobody.

Based on a true story, the film stars McConaughey as a bigoted, hell-raising cowboy who refuses to believe his doctors’ warnings that he only has 30 days to live after being diagnosed with HIV in the mid-1980s.

Leto plays his pal, who tries the AZT drug at first but soon joins forces with Woodruff in smuggling and selling alternative drugs from Mexico.