‘He’s very menacing and terrifying’: Jared Leto will make you scream in ‘The Haunted Mansion’

It’s never too early to celebrate spooky season, especially if you’re a Disney fan who loves nothing more than walking into the Magic Kingdom and immediately making your way to the Haunted Mansion for a ride where grim-grinning ghosts come out to socialize. Those happy haunts will soon materialize into a film of the same name as the iconic Disney ride — that’s right, The Haunted Mansion is headed to theaters later this summer, and in tow, a spooky Jared Leto.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Justin Simien said that even though the performance isn’t entirely physical, Leto took on the role in his fail-proof way of method acting, fully embodying the character’s persona.

“When I was with him [filming], yeah, he was full-on Hatbox Ghost. A lot of that is voice performance, a lot of that is voice capture. It’s a little bit of a different animal, but it gave us time to craft it and gave us quiet moments between the performance.”

Leto becoming the Hatbox Ghost was an exciting journey for everyone involved, and while his presence in the trailer is short, it’s still quite impactful.

Simien continued by saying that Leto’s performance in the film is meant to be something scary, and that is a different spin from the original take on the movie. A more comedic version, The Haunted Mansion (2003), had a different heartbeat than the upcoming take on the spookiest mansion in town, and Leto’s portrayal of the Hatbox Ghost will undeniably mirror that. In fact, his performance is enough to make you shriek.

“The character itself, it’s part digital, part physical performance. We’re trying to go for something scary that feels like it could exist physically in the real world, on the ride, but pushes the scare a lot further than the ride does. He knocked it out of the park. He’s very menacing and terrifying.”

Fans of the Haunted Mansion have long hoped that this film would present a more spine-tingling experience for fans of the ride and the first movie, and it looks like that’s exactly what’s in store for us. The Haunted Mansion and its spooky ghosts will welcome you as its newest guest on July 28, so get to packing your bags.