Morbius: Jared Leto Was Attracted to Major Transformations for Marvel Role

Morbius opens in theaters this week, bringing Jared Leto's living vampire to the big screen. It's a role that comes with a major transformation as Leto's character Dr. Michael Morbius goes from suffering from a rare blood disease to gaining superhuman abilities and a thirst for blood after he attempts to cure himself. As we've seen from teasers and trailer's, it's a big shift on all fronts for the character and it's the transformations that attracted Leto to the role. Leto spoke with ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis and described the role and its transformations as being "perfectly suited" for his interests.

"It was a little bit of both," Leto said when asked whether it was a mental or physical transformation that was the biggest challenge. "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."

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."

As for his own transformation as the character, Leto went on to explain that he too inspiration from the art from comics. Leto said that he spent a lot of time with the art of the character in comics and it informed his take on the character a great deal.

"What I loved a lot is the artwork," Leto said. "And that was actually really inspiring because of course you have the writers and the stories, the comics, but I feel like the artists too created their own stories with the visuals. And I really spent a lot of time with the art of Morbius and they're just some beautiful art all the way back to the 60s and that really inspired and informed the character quite a bit."

The synopsis for Morbius reads: "One of the most compelling and conflicted characters in Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters comes to the big screen as Oscar winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Mobius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil — or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?"

Morbius opens in theaters April 1st.

Are you looking forward to Leto's transformation in Morbius? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.