Jared Leto On How 100-Year-Old Olivia De Havilland Saved 30 Seconds To Mars

Jared Leto has friends in high places. The Oscar-winning actor and 30 Seconds to Mars singer has formed an unlikely friendship with Olivia de Havilland, the Gone With the Wind star and Hollywood pioneer who just turned 100 years old. Leto credits the Golden Age star for helping to save his band after a contract dispute almost left 30 Seconds to Mars broke.

Jared Leto posted a birthday message for the 1946 Oscar winner six years after they first met under surprising circumstances.

Happy 100th to a brave, bold, and legendary artist – Olivia de Havilland. Thank you for standing up for artists and the De Havilland Law.

— JARED LETO (@JaredLeto) July 2, 2016

In an interview with People, de Havilland spoke about her meeting with Jared Leto, who visited her in Paris to thank her for the de Havilland Decision, a 1944 California law that was created after the actress challenged Warner Bros. over the terms of her contract. 72 years later, Labor Code Section 2855 states that “California law limits to seven years the time an employer can enforce a contract with an employee.”

Jared Leto began corresponding via email with the Hollywood legend in 2010 after his lawyers used the law to release his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, from a dated recording contract. Leto’s band was embroiled in a nasty $30 million contract lawsuit with EMI at the time and the suit was resolved based on the 1944 statute. The use of the law ultimately saved the rock band from the contract bondage that was putting them in the hole.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Jared reached out to Olivia to see if she would participate in Artifact, a documentary he was filming about his band’s struggles. While de Havilland declined Leto’s initial on-camera interview invite, she agreed to meet with the actor and the two of them remained in touch. Leto’s first letter from the Golden Age star was handwritten in “formal, feminine script and arrived on thick, azure-colored paper” with her Paris return address on the envelope.

Olivia de Havilland turns 100 today. How #GoneWithTheWind's rebel fought the studio system https://t.co/zjav2oROIY pic.twitter.com/fdVG2v8EKv

— Variety (@Variety) July 1, 2016

“I was more than surprised to hear from Jared Leto,” the actress told People. “I was enchanted! He came to my house to thank me for the de Havilland Decision, which he and his band, 30 Seconds to Mars, had utilized victoriously in a similar contractual dispute. It’s wonderful knowing that the Decision continues to be useful to artists and other professionals these many years later.”

In an interview with The Guardian, Jared Leto talked about what prompted his meeting with the Hollywood legend and contract pioneer.

“A few years ago we discovered that, despite having sold millions of records, not only were we not going to get paid a penny [by our record company], but we were millions and millions of dollars in debt,” Jared said. “So we discovered there was a law in the state of California, the seven-year statute, which is actually called the De Havilland Law. I ended up meeting with [Olivia] in Paris, and we had a wonderful time together and I thanked her for fighting the studios back then so I could fight them now. It was amazing to meet her.”

In an interview with Esquire, Jared Leto explained how Artifact went from being a making-of-an-album documentary to something much different after his band’s song “The Kill” sold millions of records but still left the band penniless.

“We battled an industry, we were fighting for our creative lives,” Leto said. “We came back to Los Angeles to make a follow-up and found that, not only were we not going to be paid a single penny for it, but that we were millions and millions and millions of dollars in debt. So we started to look around and were shocked by what we found. We educated ourselves and found out that in California there’s a labor law which states that you can’t be bound to a contract for more than seven years. At that time, I believe, we were signed for nine years. ”

Leto went on to describe his Paris meeting with the law’s namesake, calling the then-98-year-old Gone With the Wind actress “incredible.”

Jared Leto’s Artifact turned out to be a labor of love. The documentary, which Jared made under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins, was more than 4 years in the making from start to finish. Leto’s film ultimately won the Documentary Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Gotham Independent Film Awards. And while Olivia de Havilland didn’t appear in the film alongside Jared Leto, she was there in spirit.

Take a look at the video below to see a trailer for Jared Leto’s Artifact.

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]