Saint John, New Brunswick – Initial excitement over the latest entry in Disney’s sci-fi Tron franchise was ruined when it was discovered it also stars Jared Leto. During a recent family movie night, after several commercials for banking products and before the main attraction, a trailer for Tron: Ares was shown.
“I thought it looked awesome at first,” said Dave Murphy, a local refinery worker. “They have the AI beings from the Tron world entering ours. The effects look awesome. But then I saw this guy and thought, ‘Oh, is that Jared Leto?’”
Murphy praised the concept and overall look of the film.
“The film looks amazing and it really makes the AI beings seem genuinely scary with these lightcycles slicing through cop cars and stuff,” he added.
“But isn’t Leto some kind of creep?” he asked, referring to recent allegations of sexual assault. “He’s like Johnny Depp and Russell Brand – performers who were kind of cool once but end up being sex pests. So why does this guy keep getting cast?”
“I just imagine casting directors going over headshots and saying, ‘You know what our movie needs? The star of Morbius’,” he continued.
The film is also scored by industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, which also has Murphy interested as it’s their first new music in five years.
“That music really does capture the atmosphere they’re going for. And thank god the music isn’t scored by 30 Seconds to Mars,” he said, referring to the rock band fronted by the star of the 2023 Disney film Haunted Mansion. “Also, didn’t Leto send someone a live rat or a dead pig or something like that on set one time?”
Leto allegedly sent inappropriate gifts to cast members on the set of 2016’s Suicide Squad.
“And, universally speaking, Leto is regarded as the worst Joker based on his performance in that movie.”
Murphy expressed fondness for Leto’s earlier films like Fight Club and American Psycho where he is beaten up and murdered, respectively, on screen.
“I always thought if any of the guys from My So-Called Life were gonna get this much work, it would have been Wilson Cruz. It really puts a damper on my excitement for the movie if it’s led by a guy who did the same thing to Blade Runner: 2049.”
Despite misgivings, Murphy still plans to see the film.
“Of course I’m going,” he said. “It’s got Gillian Anderson.”
