Elijah Wood Attacked By Jared Leto Over 30 Seconds To Mars Criticism

01/26/07 7:30pm

Jared Leto packed on 50 pounds to play Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon, in the film Chapter 27 that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week. But he's apparently pretty thin-skinned when it comes to people criticizing his band, 30 Seconds To Mars.

According to Lord Of The Rings actor Elijah Wood in an interview with Jane magazine, Leto attacked him at the MTVU Woodie Awards in New York City in October after confronting him about things he had said about the group.

"He was basically upset at the fact that I said I didn't like his band," said the diminutive Wood. "He said that initially and then walked away.

"I guess he thought I was laughing at him, but I was more shell-shocked and telling people around me, 'Whoa, I just got told off by Jared Leto for not liking his band.' And that's when he came back and grabbed me.

"I told Jared it wasn't personal. He acted like I'd been disrespecting him or speaking about his family. Things like that don't generally happen to me. I'm very non-confrontational. The whole thing was kind of ridiculous."

Wood was quoted in the January/February 2003 issue of Blender magazine as saying, "I would never try to be like other actors and attempt to make [music] myself. I mean, have you heard 30 Seconds To Mars?... Fucking awful, man!"

Wood has pretty good taste in music and has started his own label, Simian Records, which will release Apples In Stereo's New Magnetic Wonder album on Feb. 6. In the April 2003 issue of Chart, Wood spoke to Nardwuar The Human Serviette about some of his favourite bands, which include ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Clinic, The White Stripes, The Von Bondies, The Soledad Brothers, Verbena, Black Sabbath, The Sea And Cake, Fugazi, Sonic Youth and '60s garage rock mavericks, The Sonics.

And 30 Seconds To Mars? Yeah, they fucking suck.