Jared Leto urges people to be 'thankful' for Marvel films

Jared Leto has insisted people should be "thankful" for Marvel movies.

The 50-year-old actor recently caused a stir when he claimed the comic book blockbusters were the only thing keeping cinemas open, leading to other films being shut out, and while he paid no attention to the debate sparked by his remarks, he still stands by what he said and insisted he actually thinks it is a good thing.

He said: "I pretty much just bury my head in the sand, say a lot of stupid s*** and then let everybody go have fun with it.

"But I would say it again. I mean, are people upset with it? Do they agree with it? What are they, confused about it?

"If you look at the box office and what people are buying tickets for, I worked at movie theater as a kid, OK, and I'm talking about what's actually generating revenue to keep the buildings open and the people employed and the ecosystem thriving.

"[Marvel movies] are probably the biggest generators of revenue. So, in a sense, we should be thankful.

"Especially those of us who are big fans of cinema and theaters, we should be thankful that these films even exist. Because they help support the ecosystem, so that other films that are adult dramas, like 'House of Gucci', have theaters they can actually be in. That's my point. Maybe that was lost in translation, but it seems it's pretty hard to argue with that.

"I mean, I think it's a sacred thing, cinema. And it's a beautiful thing. It changed my life."

Jared can next be seen in his own Marvel movie, 'Morbius', and he relished the chance to tackle "three performances in one" with the title role.

He told 'Entertainment Tonight': "I mean, I love that this is a guy, when we meet Dr. Michael Morbius, he's sick and frail and fragile, he's searching for a cure for a really rare disease that he has and others like him, and then he becomes strong and powerful and ultimately monstrous.

"So I liked that there were really three performances in one, and there's quite a big transformation there."

Jared admitted it was "quite an honour" to be approached for the project because no one has played the character before and it is a very different movie to anything he's done in the past.

He said: "The other thing that excited me is this is the very first time this character has been on the big screen and it was, you know, quite an honor to be asked to do it.

"I've never done anything like this before. I've never starred in a big movie like this before. I generally am doing different sorts of films and, you know, I just jumped at the opportunity."

The 'WeCrashed' actor had caused a stir with his original remarks last week.

He said: "If it wasn't for Marvel films, I don't even know if theatres would exist. It doesn't seem like there's room for everyone, and that starts to become a little heartbreaking."

"I also have gratitude for these movies because they're keeping cinema alive."