Given Sony Pictures' track record with its Marvel movies, no one had particularly high hopes for Morbius before it was released in 2022. Still, the potential for the Living Vampire to take centre stage in a fun, horror-tinged adventure was definitely there.
Unfortunately, the version we got was a disaster. Boasting one of the worst post-credits scenes ever put on film, Morbius was a mess of a movie which stars Matt Smith, Tyrese, and Al Madrigal have all suggested wasn't the project they signed up for (the entire final act was reworked with extensive reshoots).
Now, Mad Men star Jared Harris has weighed in; the actor didn't have the most memorable role as Dr. Emil Nicholas, Michael Morbius' father figure, though it's possible he had more to do before additional photography took place.
Either way, when the actor recently spoke with i News, he bemoaned how Hollywood has largely taken a "ticking boxes" and "mass-production" approach to filmmaking in recent years. Why then did Harris sign up for a movie like Morbius?
"Sure, yeah," he said with a shrug when the site reminded him of the role. "I have got a mortgage to pay, you know. Sometimes you say yes to things because you need to make money."
As for how he found the experience, Harris added, "I have observed that those types of films do well if you have a sense of humour. You can’t treat it as though it’s Shakespeare. So yeah, that movie could have done with a more mischievous sense of humour."
It's unfortunate that many actors don't necessarily differentiate between Marvel Studios and Sony's Marvel; this experience may have soured Harris on ever giving the genre another chance.
These comments come after Morbius director Daniel Espinosa recently said, "To make a movie through committee, I think, is very hard, and I felt in the end that maybe a different director would have been a better fit. I’m known amongst the studios to be a person with a lot of opinions, and maybe they were not looking for that kind of director."
Morbius ended by setting the stage for a Sinister Six movie which was seemingly meant to put a heroic spin on the villainous team. Whether Sony plans to return to that idea in Venom: The Last Dance or Kraven the Hunter remains to be seen.
Recent reports have suggested that the idea now is to bring Venom into the MCU, a sign perhaps that Sony has moved on from its crossover plans and will make these movies standalone in the same way as Madame Web (not that things turned out particularly well for that project, of course).
Do you think Sony dropped the ball with Morbius?