Jared Leto has not had the best run of movies over the last few years, as after winning an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, the actor has become known for his frequently strange bouts of method acting and some heavily criticized comic book movie roles. For that reason, the announcement of Leto’s casting in Tron: Ares has split opinions on social media, with many happy that the movie is finally moving forward but not exactly thrilled at the idea of Leto being the lead on the project.
Jared Leto has not had the greatest run recently, although his brief appearance in Zack Snyder’s Justice League as Joker, his previous turn as the character in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was heavily criticized by audiences. While one bad movie doesn’t necessarily make an actor a Jonah in Hollywood, his more recent role as Morbius has not helped endear him cinemagoers, especially with additional stories about the way he went about getting into character getting a lot of attention.
The biggest issue fans have had with Leto’s method acting are the many stories of the star’s behavior on set, which during the filming of Morbius saw the actor demanding others push him to the bathroom in a wheelchair so he could stay in character. Similar examples of unruly behavior, including leaving sexually explicit material around the set of Suicide Squad, which was not appreciated by other cast and crew members.
Tron and Tron: Legacy Were Not Hugh Franchise Starters, So Why Tron 3?
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Tron was originally released in 1982, a technological feat of the time that has not exactly aged well. At the time of its release, Tron was not a commercial success but it did gain a cult following over the years. Due to that, Tron: Legacy finally arrived in 2010 as a potential kick-start to the long-in-hibernation sci-fi franchise. However, the movie fell into the “cult” film category once again, as even though the movie made $400 million, its huge $170 million budget meant that, combined with mixed reviews, the Tron franchise continued to underwhelm.
In 2012 an animated TV series, Tron: Uprising, bridged a gap between the two movies, but the show was cancelled after one 19 episode season. Since then the franchise has remained dormant, although it was not by the choice of director Joseph Kosinski, who had Tron 3 ready to go back in 2015. However, the purchases of Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm shortly after Tron Legacy’s release meant that other fantasy and sci-fi franchises took precedent.
Now the Tron franchise is seemingly ready to pick up the threads of the franchise for a third go around. However, from the social media reactions the film will have a bit of a mountain to climb in order to get around its Jared Leto-shaped hurdle. You can check out some of the initial knee-jerk reactions from Twitter below. As yet, there is no word on when Tron: Ares will be released, but the movie is looking to start filming in August.
