Despite Sony’s numerous attempts to lure people to theaters to see a movie about a “living vampire,” the American public has been more than happy to simply meme the idea of a Morbius movie. After all, meme-ing the movie is basically as good as seeing it, and this recent trend of memers treating the slop that American movie studios dump into our troughs like high art (see: the Gentleminions) is very funny. Certainly more funny than Dr. Michael Morbius being played by a guy who pretended to be disabled so he could accurately inhabit a D-level Spider-Man villain.
But even after director Daniel Espinosa told the press that he feels “a lot of self hatred” over the movie, the public still wants to know what everyone who was involved with Morbius thinks of its disappointing box office. Case in point: Matt Smith, who played the classic Marvel character “Milo” in the film. After surviving a public haranguing from a meme-happy Comic-Con attendee two weeks ago, Smith faced the indignity of having Rolling Stone ask him about Morbius. At least this time, Smith didn’t have to hear someone shout “It’s Morbin’ time” at him.
Understandably, Smith, who spent the decade playing iconic characters, like The Doctor, Prince Philip, and Charles Manson, understands that sometimes these things hit and sometimes they don’t. “Yeah, it was thrown under the bus,” he smiles. “But you just have to roll with it. What else are you gonna do? 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.”
Smith has bigger fish to fry these days. Playing Daemon Targaryen on the still-not-canceled Game Of Thrones prequel House Of The Dragon, Smith had to wrangle one of the most extravagant, platinum blonde wigs in television history.
“It looks great but it’s a fucking pain in the arse,” says Smith of the platinum wig that was his constant companion during the 10-month shoot. “It took an hour and a quarter to put on every day. I was like, ‘Obviously the Targaryens are known for their blonde hair — but can’t we just give them some highlights?’” Enough with the Morbius questions. We need to know how Daemon protects himself from split ends.