Jared Leto was last seen standing in one place to tease his Morbius vampire role, but of course, his turn as the Joker hasn’t left the public discussion. That’s because Joaquin Phoenix’s trailer-bound portrayal of the supervillain (in 1980s, Taxi Driver-esque mode) entranced comic book fans, which places residual pressure on Leto following his super campy, “damaged” Suicide Squad spin on the character. So, when Leto sat down with Variety (for their new The Big Ticket podcast, jointly with iHeart) while at the Tribeca Film Festival for his A Day In the Life of America documentary, the Joker subject inevitably popped up.
When quizzed on whether he’d want to reprise the character for a solo movie, Leto responded in the affirmative. “I would definitely play the Joker again,” the My So-Called life actor declared. “It all depends on the script and the circumstances as it always does.” On whether he’ll make a cameo in Birds Of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), he was slightly cagey. “I don’t think so … you’d have to ask them,” he first stated before adding more. “Well, we’ll see.” (It doesn’t look like that’s the case at all.)
As for what Leto thinks about Joaquin’s spin on Arthur Fleck in Todd Phillips’ Joker, he gave a wise answer — that he hasn’t watched the trailer at all. Is that true, and does it matter? Well, even if he has watched it, Leto would probably do well to pretend that this simply slipped his mind. Any comparison that he would make would be seen as either petty or maybe passive aggressive or even fawning, so it’s hard to blame the guy for taking this route. Do you really believe that Leto hasn’t had a few moments of downtime to take a peek, though? It’s only a trailer, not a three-hour superhero movie, after all. Yeah, he must have watched the thing. How could he resist?
Variety segued into Morbius talk, and Leto was pleased to reveal that he accepted the role in Sony’s Spider-Man vampire spinoff because he’s always been wild about bloodsuckers. He’s a fan of Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stroker’s Dracula, and he loved Anne Rice’s genre books. However, Leto made it quite clear that he’s “too damn old” and “jaded” to appreciate the Twilight franchise. That’s a good thing, right? The world does not need a sparkly vampire Leto.
Speaking of Morbius, Tyrese Gibson Instagrammed a photo of himself with director Daniel Espinosa from the set. Gibson plays an unknown role, and he’ll appear in the movie alongside Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, and Matt Smith. The movie’s currently set for a July 31, 2020 release.
(Via Variety)