The upcoming Morbius film about Marvel’s Living Vampire will have a “Jekyll and Hyde” type story according to star Jared Leto. During a podcast on Variety’s Award Circuit, the actor teased the comic book film project saying that the Michael Morbius role was like playing three characters at once.
“It’s not often that you have one of these Marvel characters that hasn’t been put on the screen before, so it was an opportunity to create something brand-new and do something I don’t often do, which is like the leading man,” Leto said. “I haven’t done that very much in my life, so that was a good challenge.”
Leto gave a quick description of Dr. Michael Morbius. He’ll be dealing with a rare and terminal blood disease. Morbius, like MCU’s Dr. Strange, will seek out a cure to help him with his life-changing and deadly situation.
“He finds a cure and goes from being this frail, sickly person, who’s at the end of his life, to being strong and powerful. But then there’s a catch,” Leto added. “I get to play these three different characters in a way in this Jekyll and Hyde story that’s just big and fun and sometimes a little scary, which, I think, is different for that genre. I’m excited about it; it should be a big, fun popcorn movie.”
We can presume the “catch” will be Morbius transforming into a vampire-like being that needs to drink blood to stay alive. Morbius’s new hunger for blood will not sit well with his fiancé, Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) and FBI agents Simon Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and Alberto Rodriguez (Al Madrigal).
So far, we’ve only had one Morbius trailer back in January of 2020.
“We had a phenomenal response to the trailer [and] people seem to be really excited about it and I am, too,” Leto said.
The Morbius cast also includes Jared Harris (Chernobyl) as Dr. Morbius’s mentor and Doctor Who’s Matt Smith playing Loxias Crown aka Hunger — the film’s main antagonist. Of course we saw Michael Keaton’s Adrien Toomes aka Vulture from Spider-Man Homecoming in the Morbius teaser trailer. This will bring Sony and the MCU even closer.
Before ending the interview, Variety asked Jared Leto about his Joker appearing in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
“I may or may not be in [it],” he said. “I’ve heard the rumors, too, but we’ll have to let Zack confirm or deny that one. I may or may not have shot something with Zack, but I love him. He is just a maverick and an incredible filmmaker. We get along great, have great chemistry, and I look forward to working with him again in the future. We have lots up our sleeves, Zack and I.”
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa (Life) and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (co-writers for Dracula Untold) and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (co-writers of the first Iron Man movie).
Jared Leto’s Morbius will be sinking its teeth into screens March 19, 2021.
