Jared Leto is known in the industry for his various method acting choices that either shows a strong dedication to the character or it might come off as a tad bit self-indulgent and annoying. Wherever you land on this opinion, this latest story about his method choices on the set of Morbius seems to feel like more of the latter, and director Daniel Espinosa is confirming some choices he made while shooting the movie that may have slowed down production a bit.
In Morbius, Leto plays the titular character who is trying to cure himself of a rare blood disease. In the process, he accidentally gives himself a form of vampirism but before the change, the character is growing weaker and can barely walk. During a recent chat with Uproxx discussing the film, director Daniel Espinosa was asked to confirm or deny a method acting choice made by Leto while filming. The story in question suggested that the actor was so committed to staying in character that he would use crutches to slowly limp around everywhere on set, including the bathroom. Espinosa confirmed the story to be true and said that when his bathroom breaks became too time-consuming, they struck a deal with Leto to lose the crutches and be pushed around in a wheelchair instead. Here’s what Espinosa had to say:
“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. All of the actors believe in processes. And you, as director, you support whatever makes it as good as you can be.”
Leto is no stranger to going to great lengths to get inside the mind of a character. The actor lived on the streets to prepare for his role as a junkie in Requiem for a Dream and he permanently hurt his health by putting on excess weight in Chapter 27. Then there was the story that, in preparation to play Joker in Suicide Squad, he mailed his co-stars used condoms, and even gifted a dead rat in a box to Margot Robbie, who played Harley Quinn in the movie. This story was confirmed by co-star Viola Davis who said, “I was saying loudly, ‘Don’t open the box!’ I was halfway out the door when she opened the box…and saw the biggest black rat you could imagine. Then…she cooed at it. No fear. Open. Receptive. Full of joy.” Here is what Jared Leto has said in the past about embracing method acting:
“I appreciate the term [method acting], I think it’s a little cloudy, the definition. And it, it could also be really pretentious as well. I was thinking of it as my job to show up and do the best work that I can. It’s my job to show up, do whatever I can, to be overprepared. And to deliver. It’s also my job to show up and, you know, be a pleasure to work with. And, and, and, and to be collaborative, and to have a good experience on set.”
I’m not really a fan of method acting and the more stories I heard about this, particularly with Leto, I kind of roll my eyes a bit. Can you imagine working on the Morbius set where your time is precious and you have to wait for Leto to limp back and forth from the bathroom? Then when that was eating up too much time you had to be one of the people to push him around in a wheelchair so he could stay in character? I’m sure that crew or the “lucky” production assistant has many stories to tell about that.
What are YOUR thoughts on Jared Leto’s method acting choices on Morbius?