Spider-Man: Far From Home producer Amy Pascal says the next entry in “Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters,” the Jared Leto-led Morbius, looks “really great.”
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“Jared is fantastic. Who could be better? You can’t imagine,” Pascal told Screen Rant. “It’s fantastic. I’m not involved in that one, but the studio just wrapped, and I think it looks really great.”
The Amazing Spider-Man and Venom producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, who again partner on Morbius, previously told ComicBook.com they expect “awesomeness” out of Leto, who earlier played a supporting role as the Joker in Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad.
“Just a similar level of intensity and charisma and devotion to the character,” Tolmach said.
“And loving the character,” added Arad, prompting Tolmach to say Leto “loves the character” of Morbius, who in the Marvel Comics is a sometimes-villain, sometimes-anti-hero belonging to the Spider-Man franchise.
In Morbius, Leto stars as biochemist Dr. Michael Morbius, who is turned into a ‘living vampire’ when he incorporates bat DNA into a serum concocted in an attempt to cure a fatal blood disease. Though disgusted by his own bloodlust, Morbius takes to the streets and preys upon criminals he deems unworthy of life.
Tolmach and Arad later told Collider Leto was drawn to the project because, like Venom star Tom Hardy, the Academy Award-winning actor wanted a comic book character to call his own after a sizable amount of his Joker performance was dropped from Suicide Squad.
“This is the great thing for us now, that an actor like [Leto], and an actor like Tom wanted to have their own character. But the character they love,” Arad said.
“Both of them, very hard to get them to do a movie. You actually cannot get them. We went in, we sat with them, and everybody told us, ‘Oh, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.’ Nothing. That’s what he wanted to do.”
Arad added “good actors want to be different than what they are.”
Co-starring Jared Harris (Mad Men), Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim Uprising), Tyrese Gibson (The Fate of the Furious) and Matt Smith (Doctor Who), Morbius opens July 31, 2020.
