Morbius Director Confirms Wheelchair Was Brought in Due to Jared Leto’s Method Acting

Every actor has their own process for authentically bringing characters to life, and for Jared Leto’s interpretation of Michael Morbius, even when the cameras weren’t rolling, Leto would embrace the character’s physical limitations, which caused some delays behind the scenes. Director of Morbius Daniel Espinoza recently confirmed to Uproxx that, to save time for bathroom breaks, a wheelchair was brought in to transport Leto, as opposed to him requiring the time to use crutches to get to and from the restroom. The director also accepted these delays as all being part of the “mysterious” process of an actor bringing a character to life. Morbius is in theaters now.

When asked directly by the outlet about reports of a wheelchair being brought in for Leto, Espinoza confirmed those details, while noting, “Because I think that what Jared thinks, what Jared believes, is that somehow the pain of those movements, even when he was playing normal Michael Morbius, he needed, because he’s been having this pain his whole life. Even though, as he’s alive and strong, it has to be a difference. Hey, man, it’s people’s processes.”

Understandably, it would be easy to see how Espinoza could grow frustrated by the delays in filming to compensate for Leto’s method acting when the cameras weren’t rolling, with the director expressing that it’s these idiosyncrasies that you accept as a filmmaker when you hire a compelling performer.

“All of the actors believe in processes. And you, as director, you support whatever makes it as good as you can be,” Espinoza confessed. “But it’s more that I think the directors that don’t like actors get really frustrated about that. I think it’s really mysterious, what they do. Almost all actors, in general, have their own reputation of being an interesting person how he works with their characters. I think that all of them have these traits. If you want a completely normal person that does only things that you understand, then you’re in the wrong business. Because what’s different is what makes them tick. It’s very hard to be able to say, ‘I can take this part away and I will still get the same stuff from him.’ I don’t do that. I’m more to see like, ‘Hey, if you’re doing this, we have to do this.’”

Morbius is in theaters now.

What did you think of Leto’s performance? Let us know in the comments below!