Film Talk: Jared Leto talks playing antihero Dr Michael Morbius in ‘darker’ Marvel film
Jared Leto is the king of on-screen transformations.
For his recent turn in House of Gucci, make-up and hair for his character Paolo Gucci took six hours per day during filming.
Not one to shy away from roles requiring intense physical changes, including for 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club, the singer and actor, 50, embraces his latest character, enigmatic antihero Dr Michael Morbius, with the same zest.
Based on the bloodsucking Marvel character created by Roy Thomas, director Daniel Espinosa’s film Morbius introduces audiences to Leto’s Dr Morbius, a brilliant scientist whose attempts at curing a rare blood disorder leave him with mysterious powers.
The film, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel, also stars Matt Smith as Milo, the doctor’s best friend and surrogate brother from childhood; Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson and is an expansion of the comic book universe inhabited by Spider-Man and his adversaries.
Leto says he found Dr Morbius’s status as antihero and perhaps the most altruistic character in the Marvel cosmos appealing.
“I was also excited about bringing this character to life for the very first time on the big screen. He’s never had a film about him and it was great to dig into his origin story. It was a lot of fun,” he says when we speak at a London hotel.
Espinosa says Leto playing the character was “fate”, adding he was “the only actor that could really play the part of Morbius. That wasn’t really a choice – it was predestination”.
Leto, who is currently starring in Apple TV’s WeCrashed, alongside Anne Hathaway, as WeWork founder Adam Neumann, made his breakthrough as teenage rebel Jordan Catalano in 1990s US television series My So-Called Life, which starred Homeland’s Claire Danes.
His talents extend beyond the screen and he has also gained critical acclaim as the lead vocalist and main songwriter for Thirty Seconds To Mars, a rock band he formed in 1998 with his older brother Shannon Leto.
In 2014, he took home an Oscar for his supporting role as transgender drug addict Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club, the film which won Matthew McConaughey his best actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Ron Woodroof, a real-life Aids patient.
“There are quite a few changes in the story; his body goes through changes, he has quite a transformation,” Leto says of Dr Morbius, adding: “So, in a sense, it was like developing three characters in one. I liked that. I liked that there was a role that was that complex and challenging.”
For The Crown and Doctor Who star Smith, 39, the role of villainous Milo was a “dream come true”.
“Daniel (Espinosa) encouraged me to be quite bold as an actor,” he says.
“When you look at the great villains, they’re allowed to be quite loud as personalities. So I tried to push Milo in that direction.
“I gave him a sort of illusionist quality – a physical illusionist, a sense of opulence in his clothing.
“Playing the bad guy is a dream come true. I’m interested in the bad guys where, at the end of the film, you go, ‘I kind of like him'.”
Espinosa, whose other films include Safe House, Child 44 and Easy Money, describes Smith as “a beautiful actor – a combination of the classic English elegance with a bit of Iggy Pop attitude”.
He says: “He’s a classically trained actor, but to be a real star, you have to have a bit of punk in you.”
For Sherlock, Chernobyl and Mad Men star, Harris, 60, the role of Nicholas Morbius, a mentor and friend who raises Michael and Milo (whose original name is Lucien), fulfilled a childhood passion.
He says: “I’m a big comic book fan.
“I had stacks and stacks of comic books when I was a kid, and I’ve gone to all the movies.
“Growing up, my father had a house in the Bahamas and there was no television… So we used to read comics to entertain ourselves when the adults got fed up with us.
“I just read them all – I mean, everything.”
The all-encompassing facet of being able to bring audiences the physical and emotional transformation of the character is something Leto was attracted to.
He explains: “It made the role really rich and nuanced. I’m excited for people to see this. It’s quite different.
“And I hope that they have as much fun with the character as I did. I had a blast.”
The Hollywood A-lister also reminisces about filming in London for Morbius, adding that “it’s good to be back” as he promotes the film.
He hopes audiences will like, as he did, the darker elements.
“The thing that’s different about this film, as well, that I love, is you have this big, action adventure Marvel movie, but it also walks on the darker, scarier side of the universe and plays with elements of horror and I think that makes it really different,” he muses.
The job, he says, was a “dream”, explaining: “I wanted to make sure that I brought to life a character that audiences had fun with, that they enjoyed spending time with, that is different and unique, and hopefully something special to add to this beautiful tapestry that Marvel has created.
“And, for me, it was a dream job and a really terrific experience.”
