“House of the Dragon” star Matt Smith is still upset about a “Batman” homage he tried to sneak into “Morbius” that was cut out of the final version of the infamously disastrous superhero movie.
During a conversation shared Thursday with “Happy Sad Confused” podcast host Josh Horowitz, Smith reflected on his history of playing characters who do not operate by a strict moral code. He specifically cited not only Daemon Targaryen in “House of the Dragon” but Patrick Bateman as well, the “American Psycho” protagonist he portrayed in a musical stage production of the novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into a beloved film starring Christian Bale.
Horowitz posited that actors tend to be interested in seeing how much they can “test the audience” and “test their limits” with how far a character can go before viewers stop empathizing with them. Smith agreed.
“I think it’s intrinsic to every actor. You want to push your own limits as well, right?” Smith said, adding, “What’s that line? It’s Jack Nicholson. ‘Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight?’”
“I got that line in ‘Morbius,’ by the way, and they f—king cut it out!” Smith revealed, referencing the Joker line that Nicholson famously says in director Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” film. “I improvised that line. I was like, ‘Come on, let’s nick that from Big Jack.’ And they cut the f—ker out. Can you believe it?”
You can watch Smith’s full conversation with Horowitz yourself below.
In response to Smith, Horowitz joked, “That was the problem with the movie.”
“That was!” Smith responded, laughing. “That would have just changed the whole damn thing, wouldn’t it? Jesus Christ.” The actor was subsequently asked if one of the only generally liked scenes in “Morbius,” in which Smith’s villainous Milo dances shirtless while looking at a reflection of himself in a mirror, was also an improvisation on his part.
“Well, no,” Smith said. “Basically, we came back like months later [after initial filming] and they were like, ‘Well, we don’t know what we’re gonna do with this. Why don’t we whack your top off and get you to dance in the mirror?’ And I was like, ‘Cool. Okay. Yeah, let’s go!’”
Part of Sony’s troubled Spider-Man Universe, “Morbius” was a critical and financial letdown when it was released in April 2022. Directed by “Life” and “Safe House” filmmaker Daniel Espinosa, the movie was delayed multiple times by the COVID pandemic. When it was eventually released, it garnered overwhelmingly negative reviews and grossed only $167 million at the worldwide box office, becoming the subject of countless memes for months.
