Much has been said about Jared Leto's absence from the Masters of the Universe global press tour. However, while Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Mendes seem to be the only cast members actually doing junket interviews for the movie, Leto hasn't attended a single red carpet.
It's worth noting that there have been reports about Leto being unhappy with how Skeletor turned out, and suggestions that past alleged sexual misconduct is why he's being kept out of the spotlight.
Speculation has also run rampant about how much time the TRON: Ares star spent on set, with many wondering whether Leto isn't promoting Masters of the Universe because Skeletor was little more than a voiceover role.
"[Jared] loved He-Man when he was a kid, just like I did," filmmaker Travis Knight recently told GamesRadar+. "And Skeletor was his favorite character. So he really wanted to create a distinctive villain that honored everything that came before, while at the same time putting our spin on it. And he gave an incredible performance. I just think he's so fun to watch."
"Ultimately, it comes down to collaboration of disciplines, because he's wearing this incredible muscle suit that was put together by our prosthetics master Barry Gower. He has this incredible costume made by our costumers led by Richard Sale, so he's on set completely performing for his fellow actors, and the only thing that wasn't there on the day was the skull of the face."
"Jared's face was replaced by CG animation," Knight continued. "And the animators did an extraordinary job of capturing the nuance and the personality that Jared brought to the physical and the vocal performance, and so the face is really emotive. You wouldn't think that would be the case for a skull, but there's a lot of personality and a lot of emotion in that skull!"
While it would have been easy to put a stuntman in the Skeletor suit and rely on VFX to do the rest, it was a priority for the Masters of the Universe director to have Leto on set for his scenes.
"It was important to me, because it's not just the voice or the facial performance. So much of what we love about an actor is what they do with their body," Knight explained. "How they physically move, it can communicate so much, so many different types of emotions just based on someone's bearing, how they walk across the room."
"Jared understood that the physical performance was a big part of it. There's so much that he brings to that aspect of it that has nothing to do with what you're hearing or what you're seeing in his face."
Skeletor has been singled out as a highlight in Masters of the Universe, and it's a shame in many ways that we haven't heard directly from Leto about his approach to playing He-Man's greatest foe (the actor hasn't even been included in featurettes recorded during production).
Are you excited to see the Oscar-winner's take on Skeletor when the movie opens later this week?
In Masters of the Universe, Director Travis Knight brings the legendary franchise back to the big screen in this epic live-action adventure. After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor (Jared Leto).
To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela (Camila Mendes) and Duncan/Man-At-Arms (Idris Elba), and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.
The supporting cast includes Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, James Purefoy as King Randor, Charlotte Riley as Queen Marlena, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Fisto, Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops, Sam C. Wilson as Trap Jaw, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Goat Man, Jon Xue Zhang as Ram-Man, Stephen Adentan as Moss Man, James Wilkinson as Mekaneck, and Kristen Wiig as Roboto.
Masters of the Universe opens in UK cinemas on June 3, and arrives in the U.S. on June 5.