Jared Leto is one of the most famous — or infamous — method actors working today. Whether it be shedding weight for Dallas Buyers Club or piling on the pounds for Chapter 27, or even donning unrecognizable prosthetics for House of Gucci, the guy clearly loves to disappear into his roles. So it’s totally unsurprising that the Oscar-winning star has revealed he felt compelled to do Sony’s new Marvel movie Morbius because of its “transformative” elements.
In the latest entry in the studio’s MCU-adjacent Spider-Man spinoff universe, the Suicide Squad vet returns to the comic book genre to play Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant scientist who subjects himself to a dangerous cure for his rare blood disease — and ends up metamorphizing into a Living Vampire. But as well as gaining cool Bat-like powers, such as flight and sonar abilities, Morbius will be driven to feast on blood and indulge the darker side of his nature.
While speaking to ComicBook.com, Leto was asked whether it was the mental or physical transformation of the character that proved the biggest challenge, with the actor saying they both informed the other.
“It was a little bit of both,” Leto responded. “I mean, it’s kinda like a chicken and the egg there, you know, the physical informs the mental and the mental informs the physical and this was just a perfect opportunity for me to not only to… You know, I got a chance to bring this character to the big screen for the first time. And I have to say, it’s an absolute honor to do that.”
Leto went on to make clear that the big appeal in playing this role was the opportunity to give a “transformative performance”, declaring that he feels Morbius is almost like “three characters in one.” The former 30 Seconds to Mars frontman admitted that that part of the project was “perfectly suited” to his tastes.
He continued, “It’s harder and harder to find a character that hasn’t been portrayed before. And the fact that this character is coming to screens for the very first time April 1st, I’m incredibly excited about that. And the other thing that I loved is that you have this transformative performance inside of this big Marvel movie and that there were kind of three characters in one here, it was perfectly suited for me and what I’m interested in.”
While Leto couldn’t have been more energized about the character, unfortunately critics aren’t so blown away as early reactions to the film have been crushingly negative. On the other hand, box office projections are looking solid, if unremarkable. Fans will be able to judge Morbius, not to mention Leto’s “transformative performance” in it, for themselves when it finally enters theaters this Friday, April 1.