“Morbius” stars Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona and director Daniel Espinosa discuss the comic book genre, what sets “Morbius” apart, the Marvel vs. DC debate, and much more in this exclusive interview with CinemaBlend.
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00:00We'll see what happens but uh you know I think uh I don't know and I think Morbius
00:07Spider-Man that that's a meeting that has to happen.
00:10I do love horror, I love elevated horror, elevated genre in general and I think that's
00:30what makes this different.
00:31It's a big Marvel movie but also has elements of horror, it's a little darker and scary
00:36and uh that that's you know kind of makes it stand out in the crowd I think.
00:40Yeah you know I think what's really interesting about the genre is that as a form it allows
00:45you to be quite um almost like Shakespeare does.
00:50You can be quite big, you can make quite bold choices because the universe is in itself
00:54quite big so you can be quite bold with the brushstrokes that you throw at the canvas
01:01as it were for the less boring analogy um and you know there's there's um I think I
01:08think there's a lot of interesting parts being written by a lot of great writers and a lot
01:13of great directors are gravitating towards that sort of universe.
01:17I love playing Michael Morbius, I love the fact that I got to interpret this character
01:22for the first time.
01:23I don't look down on this movie, I don't look down on the character, I don't apologize for
01:28it.
01:28I put it up alongside anything else I've ever done in my life and uh uh I think audiences
01:34deserve from me my very best and I did my very best in this film as best as I could.
01:40I worked as hard as I could to bring this character to life, it's very it has a transformation
01:45that was very challenging and for me creatively exciting but uh no I mean I I think that you
01:52know the best of Marvel, the best at DC stand alongside the best of any other film.
01:56I think it's ridiculous to suggest otherwise.
02:04In almost all Spider-Verses or or you know the the verses that that existed in in the
02:10Marvel Universe if you read the comic books the whole idea of those kind of uh of that
02:15kind of the Marvel string theory if you would call it it's very related to you know if you
02:20remember uh the the the alternative Seinfelds you know is is is that you have like a world
02:27where you have the same characters and and and it's all of the characters but they are
02:32slightly different you know so in almost all the verses you have a Spider-Man but they
02:39will be different you know in the in tone.
02:42That's not quite the way that the kind of Marvel Cinematic Universe universe are approaching
02:47the the idea then you have the second kind of a legend which is about the totem is that
02:53in all universes that there is a spider totem so which means that in all universes there
02:58have to be a Spider-Man.
03:00We'll see what happens but uh you know I think uh I don't know and I think Morbius Spider-Man
03:08that that's a meeting that has to happen.
03:10You know once you make a movie like this once you make a Marvel movie I think the second
03:15you finish the movie it's no longer yours it it almost never feels yours you you you
03:20have a responsibility to sort of make this movie for the fans and I think that's what
03:26we what we did so I felt it I was I was feeling the pain I was like I just want them to see
03:32it I want them to enjoy it and I and I want them to be introduced to Michael Morbius or
03:37reintroduced to Michael Morbius and and to meet Martine and to meet Milo and you know
03:44I'm very proud of the film that that Daniel made.
03:47I have increased strength and speed in some form of that radar what else can I do?
03:54If you think of his power his power one of his powers are echolocation and we the first
03:58time we saw it Noah was in the um you know Ben Affleck's Daredevil you know and then
04:04and there what we always have done is that the people that have echolocation have been
04:08blind so it's always been like this representation of a dark room and then you have some kind
04:13of wave that goes through it and you can see things in the dark room but what happens
04:18if you see if you are a seeing human being because then you have to kind of adapt that
04:22kind of next you know your third eye if you would call it upon the you know visions of
04:27how you really perceive the world you know so then I thought psychedelia man or you know
04:34you you know that kind of vibe so so so then I thought okay it has to become psychedelia
04:40and then I started you know I'm a big comic book lover so I always loved of how they drew
04:45powers you know so then you know I was watching Pokemon and I was like I like that I like those
04:52waves I like those colors you know I like that kind of expression and then we put that together
04:57and and started working out this this idea of the psychedelic version of the third eye.
05:05Just accept who you are.
05:09The bad guy.
05:10You know I love that kind of that that ambiguous place between good and evil that that that we
05:17dance in and I think that's exciting it there's some complexity there and I'd like to continue
05:22down that path for sure.
05:23Well I think whoever you play with you sort of on some level you you you you agree with
05:29them because you're you're investing in their train of thought a bit you know what I mean and
05:34you can't really judge them too much I I find you know because you've got to be on their side
05:39bad or good particularly if they are bad you've got to convince everyone that they're truthfully
05:44bad but I suppose you know the interesting thing about it is is can you find something
05:49in there that people latch on to whether they disagree with him or not and still like.
05:53You know I hear people talk talk about Marvel DC but I think look there are great actors
05:58great directors great writers great artists great you know creative people on either side
06:06and you know a lot to enjoy with with with either side.
06:10You know the rivalry is not such a bad thing a little competition goes a long way and it
06:15really help it pushes people to work harder to dig deeper and so I think that audiences
06:22probably benefit from that and I love Zack I love the the the Snyder verse and you know
06:28I hope they keep on on putting material putting work out.
06:31Jared is obviously you know he's had 20 odd years at a really high level and thrown out
06:37some great performances in uh many many films so it was um fantastic yeah yeah he um you know
06:44he had he's obviously he's got a very invested process and it was really interesting to sort
06:48of be part of that um yeah it was a it was a pleasure to to to see him work with.