New Details About “Morbius” Filming
With “Venom” now out and conquering the box-office, Sony Pictures’ attempts at their own Marvel Cinematic Universe has gained a foothold. The next salvo will be “Morbius,” the film adaptation of the iconic vampire character from Marvel Comics with Jared Leto set to star.
Producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, who are spearheading the Sony Marvel world, spoke with
Collider and offered an update on the project’s status saying filming aims to begin in February with Daniel Espinosa (“Safe House”) helming from a script by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama. Asked if Leto is definitely onboard they say:
“Oh yeah. This is the great thing for us now, that an actor like him, and an actor like Tom wanted to have their own character. But the character they love. Both of them, very hard to get them to do a movie. You actually cannot get them. We went in, we sat with them, and everybody told us, ‘Oh, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba.’ Nothing. That’s what he wanted to do.”
Asked if the plan is to pursue a PG-13 rating like they did with “Venom” and not an R, Arad says:
“It depends on the story. If the success of the story depends on being R-rated… then, of course, we can do it. But at least for me, I have grandkids, kids, whatever, all these things, and some of these movies, they’re dying to see. You know? As I took my grandson, seven, to the recording session of Venom. And he had the time of his life.
When you hear Venom…forget Venom. When you hear, Carnage, the only thing you can think of is R. But, if you know his story, if you really know the comic, there’s no R here. He’s a tortured soul. It’s not about what he does, because we never have to show the knife going from here to there, and the blood is pouring. What you have to show is, what is the motivation? Was he born like that, or it’s someone we should feel for, because if you are succeeding to make a villain someone you can feel for, jackpot.”
In spite of terrible reviews, “Venom” is continuing to do strong post-weekend business with a record Monday haul of $9.6 million on Columbus Day – the best showing for an October Monday ever.