Jared Leto Talks About Why Playing Marvel's MORBIUS Was a Brand New Challenge for Him

Jared Leto is starring in Marvel’s vampire flick Morbius, which was originally set to be released last summer. The pandemic saw the film pushed back a few times, and now it looks like we aren’t going to see it until January 2022. Hopefully by then theaters are open, and we will be able to go see all the movies we have been waiting for.

In the meantime, the Oscar-winning actor has opened up about what it’s like to play the character Morbius in a recent Actors on Actors interview at Variety. He first described the role, saying:

“It’s a big, fun movie filled with action. It’s a brilliant doctor, a researcher, who starts off trying to find a cure for a very rare disease that he has and about 1,000 other people in the world have. I was interested in this role because he goes on this journey from dying to finding a cure for this disease and becoming incredibly healthy, and then having things change in a way that he becomes monstrous. So, it’s a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, which is of course a classic role.”

He went on to talk about why this role felt a little more personal than his previous parts:

“It was hard for me in some way, because I’m not used to playing roles that are a little bit closer to who I am, day in and day out. Dr. Michael Morbius is a little closer to the way that I talk and the way that I behave.”

He also talked about the pressures of making a big-budget Marvel movie:

“It’s a pressure cooker. You have a clock ticking. They’re expensive films. And so, all of the decisions and the time to make those decision are a little bit more heated and so it can be a little more stressful. I think it’s more common with these big movies, you don’t really start with a gem of a script.”

“You start with a hope and a dream and an idea of something. And you all try to work as hard as you can, in this given amount of time, to make it as good as it can be. And I think it’s the first time I’ve ever starred in a big movie like this in my entire career, so it was new territory. I generally hide out in the shadows.”

I think Leto was a great choice for this role, and I am excited to see him in it. I wish it didn’t have to be pushed back so much, but like we found out in 2020, the year flies by, even in a pandemic, so it will be here before we know it. And maybe the delays will give the moviemakers time to make their films even better than they would have been. Are you looking forward to seeing Morbius on the big screen?