Music video by Thirty Seconds To Mars performing Kings and Queens (The Ride). 2010 Virgin Records America, Inc.
The music video for "Kings and Queens" was directed by Jared Leto with the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, a recurring character in the Dr. Seuss universe. The music video premiered at The Montalban Theater in Los Angeles on November 9, 2009 and posted online on November 11. Leto explained the 30 Seconds to Mars' experience of filming the music video saying "For me it's impossible to think of these as videos 'cause I come from a film background. It's all I know, and I don't know how to make a music video really. [...] It's a lyrical and slightly metaphorical surreal journey through the city of Angels, from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica Pier. We like to create an adventure and this has been an adventure. It's brought it to a place we haven't been before, even in our own city. It's so great. This is what we were supposed to do. And I doubted the idea up until the very last minute, but the process has been phenomenal." During an interview with MTV, Leto explained "Our rule as a band is, when we do videos — which, I don't often think of them as videos, more as short films — let's make sure the experience is amazing. [...] We've been to China in the past. We've been to the Arctic, so really, to do this video, in one way, was much simpler ... but it's also been more of a challenge. It's still equally huge in its own way." Leto told MTV News "I think this city is a beautiful place at night, and we have these empty streets, and it's kind of a haunting, forgotten landscape. It's been an incredible adventure, but it's also been really difficult, because there are so many people, and we're shutting down streets of Los Angeles."
