Jared Harris Starred in Morbius Because ‘You Need to Make Money’: ‘I’ve Got a Mortgage to Pay’

Jared Harris is explaining an actor’s thought process behind why they take on certain projects.

While speaking with the U.K.’s i newspaper recently about his upcoming film Reawakening, Harris examined much of his acting career — and also fielded a question about why he took a role in Sony’s 2022 Marvel movie Morbius, which starred Jared Leto in the title role.

“Sure, yeah,” Harris, 63, told the outlet when asked about taking on the project. “I have got a mortgage to pay, you know. Sometimes you say yes to things because you need to make money.”

Harris portrayed Dr. Emil Nicholas in Morbius opposite Leto, 52, and Matt Smith, the latter of whom played antagonist Milo Morbius. Morbius, based on the Marvel Comics character, follows Dr. Michael Morbius (Leto), who unintentionally transforms himself into a vampire while developing a cure for a blood disease he lives with. Michael’s brother Milo (Smith) also gains vampire-type powers, leaving the two to duke it out in New York City.

The movie famously flopped at the box office when it was finally released in April 2022 after several delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic; Sony originally intended to release Morbius in July 2020. It also holds a notably low approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, where only 15% of 287 critic reviews reported enjoying the movie, while 71% of audience members who logged Morbius gave it a positive review.

“I have observed that those types of films do well if you have a sense of humor,” Harris told i when asked about his experience making Morbius. “You can’t treat it as though it’s Shakespeare. So yeah, that movie could have done with a more mischievous sense of humor.”

Harris, whose resume also includes roles in the television series Mad Men, Chernobyl, and The Crown, is not the only Morbius cast member to speak out about the movie’s failure to connect with audiences. Back in 2022, Smith, 41, told Rolling Stone UK that the movie was “thrown under the bus” upon release.

“But you just have to roll with it. What else are you gonna do?” he said at the time. “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.”

Morbius is now available to stream on Disney+ and Hulu. Reawakening does not have a U.S. release date yet.