Matt Smith is in final talks to join Jared Leto in “Morbius,” a film based on the Spider-Man villain of the same name.
“Safe House” director Daniel Espinosa will helm the movie. Exact details of who Smith would play are unknown at this time, other than it being a major role in the film.
Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who co-created the Netflix series “Lost in Space,” penned the script. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing “Morbius” with Lucas Foster. Palak Patel will oversee the pic for Sony.
Writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane created Morbius in 1971 for “The Amazing Spider-Man #101.” The character was a scientist who tried to cure himself of a blood disease, with tragic results. He became afflicted with vampiric traits such as fangs and a thirst for blood — and wound up battling Spider-Man.
Morbius appeared sporadically in Marvel Comics in the subsequent years and was revived in the 1992 series “Morbius, the Living Vampire,” which had a 32-issue run through April of 1995.
Smith is coming off his Emmy-nominated performance as Prince Philip in “The Crown” Season 2, which was also his final season, as all the major roles for the third season have been recast.
Smith can next be seen in the biopic “Mapplethorpe,” which premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and opens this March, and also has the New Regency movie “His House“ and the spy thriller “Official Secrets“ on the horizon.
He is repped by UTA and Troika in the U.K.
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