Matt Smith is no stranger to franchise work. Probably best known for his run on the massively beloved Doctor Who, Smith also appeared in a Terminator sequel, had a recurring role on The Crown, and is currently filming a part for the Games of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. The actor knows his way around pop-culture storytelling, so we weren’t that shocked to learn he was taking a stab at a Marvel movie – by way of Sony Pictures – when he agreed to play the villain opposite Jared Leto in Morbius. The character doesn’t start off as evil, and part of the fun of Morbius is seeing Leto and Smith sink their teeth into the moral quandary that comes with being a vampire. But that’s not all the actor enjoyed about taking a turn in the comic book genre, as he recently told CinemaBlend during an exclusive interview:
I think what’s really interesting about the genre is that as a form, it allows you to be quite – almost like Shakespeare does – you can be quite big and make quite bold choices. Because the universe is, in itself, quite big. So you can be quite bold with the brushstrokes that you throw at the canvas – for wont of a less boring analogy. I think there’s a lot of interesting parts being written by a lot of great writers, and a lot of great directors are gravitating towards that universe.
Before signing on to do Morbius, Matt Smith admitted to being on the fence regarding taking the part. But a conversation with fellow Doctor Who alum Karen Gillan, who has been part of the MCU for years, convinced him that he’d have a good time at the gig. And if nothing else, Matt Smith appears to be enjoying himself in every scene of Morbius. Case in point, there’s that hilarious dance that Smith does, which occurs during a subway fight between Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) and his ailing colleague, “Milo” (Smith). The latter has just taken out a team of police officers, and proceeds to dance like Michael Jackson in celebration of his new powers. These types of asides bring a needed levity to the scares found in Morbius.
Some of the best parts to be found in Comic Book movies are the villains. Earlier this year, Spider-Man: No Way Home made history by bringing classic villains like Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx) and more back to the big screen after years of hiatus. The Morbius mid-credits scenes bring back a popular MCU villain, while teasing the possibility of a Sinister Six team up. And perhaps in the most famous bit of casting yet, the late Heath Ledger won a posthumous Academy Award for the big swings that he took in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, playing the Joker.
Morbius looks to continue the ever-expanding Spider-Man universe at Sony, one that… well, needs a Spider-Man. Until we know if Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, Tobey Maguire or someone else is playing Spidey in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, we’ll just continue to track progress on the Kraven the Hunter movie, as well as the recently announced Madame Web, with Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. Morbius is in theaters as we speak.
