These days with the interconnectedness of comic book movies and similar projects, watching the movie itself is only part of the fun. Figuring out where a movie fits into an existing continuity, and trying to figure out where a story might be going, is how fans get excited even before a movie comes out. The long delayed movie Morbius with Jared Leto is one of those movies that got fans buzzing early on, but Jared Leto isn’t paying attention to any of it.
CinemaBlend recently had the opportunity to speak with Jared Leto before the release of House of Gucci and while the man who plays Dr. Michael Morbius tells us that he loves the fact that fans are getting involved in the story, he says he’s not really paying any attention to what is being said because, as an actor that not where he wants his focus to be. Leto explains...
You’ve got to be careful. You know, if you’re the actor you’ve got to be careful because if you dig in too deep, it can kind of shock you or stun you into a place that you shouldn’t be. But you know, I love that people get involved with the story.
Jared Leto doesn’t elaborate on exactly what place he’s afraid he would end up in if he started following Morbius fan theories but we know from Leto’s previous roles, and the stories behind the scenes, just how seriously he takes his performances and how focused he often is on them. Any thought regarding how fans will be responding to that performance after the fact would take that focus away. If he's focused on the plot, as the fans often are, he's not focused on playing the character.
Ever since the first trailer for Morbius, fans have bee curious exactly what’s going on with the movie. We know that Michael Keaton, who previously appeared as the villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming, will be appearing in this movie as well. And since the Morbius movie is also part of Sony’s live-action Spider-Verse, there’s a seeming connection. The recent connection between the Venom franchise and the MCU only adds fuel to the fire.
It’s no wonder fans are trying to dig into the story and figure out what it all means. And Jared Leto understands that. He admits that he has approached some of his favorite media in the same way for years, trying to understand it all in a different way. Leto continues...
As a kid I was really into science fiction And I was always looking for - and even with music - always looking for the message in the music and the artwork and the details. So I relate to that a lot. I’m a fan in that way. And I’m excited about Morbius because this is a character who’s never been on screen before. And that’s harder and harder to find these days. So it was a chance to do something that hadn’t been done before, and to step out in front and star in a movie like this, which I’ve never done before.
Whatever is going on with Morbius, one assumes Jared Leto knows all the answers, but he’s not looking to see if fans have it all figured out. We’ll find out what’s going on when Morbius arrives in theaters in January.
