Matt Smith recently weighed in on the negative critical reception of Morbius, in which he co-starred with Jared Leto.
Talking with Rolling Stone UK ahead of the release of the Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, Smith was asked about his role in the Marvel Comics film. "Yeah, it was thrown under the bus," Smith said. "But you just have to roll with it. What else are you gonna do?" The actor elaborated that even though the film is widely considered to be a failure, there's nothing he can do except move on. "It's a film, at the end of the day, we're not saving lives. For whatever reason, it didn't quite work out and … It is what it is."
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius features Leto as the titular Living Vampire. The movie follows Dr. Michael Morbius, a biochemist with a deadly blood disease who accidentally turns himself into a blood-drinking creature in an attempt to cure himself. Matt Smith acts in the role of Milo, the surrogate brother of Dr. Morbius, who is also afflicted with the same illness. Milo undergoes a similar transformation but goes on to become the primary antagonist, battling against the creation of a cure.
Distributed by Sony Pictures, Morbius was originally developed to be connected to its cinematic universe of characters adjacent to Spider-Man. The 2018 film Venom and its sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) are the other two projects supposedly set in this universe, but Morbius' less-than-stellar performance has cast doubt on the progression of any future narratives with this iteration of the Living Vampire.
Finally receiving an April 2022 release after a total of six pandemic-related delays, Morbius accumulated a worldwide box office gross of $163 million against a reported production budget of $75 million. Critics summarized the film as a 'dreary mess,' also noting its 'uninspired effects, rote performances, and a borderline nonsensical story.'
Despite these shortcomings, Morbius has still managed to leave a mark on pop culture, serving as the basis for countless memes across the internet and social media. Smith himself was at the center of one of the more popular trends from the film, which featured a now infamous scene of the actor dancing shirtless in front of a mirror. The Morbius meme cycle peaked with a failed theatrical re-release in June 2022 that seemingly resulted in even more financial losses for Sony.
Morbius is currently available for purchase on VOD and Blu-Ray media.
Source: Rolling Stone UK via The Direct