‘Masters Of The Universe’ Director “Really Happy” With Jared Leto’s Performance As “Toxic Masculinity” Villain Skeletor
In a set of takes so absurd and performative that it evokes memories of peak, late-2010s era Tumblr, Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight not only believes iconic franchise villain Skeletor is a quintessential representation of “toxic masculinity”, but also that his live-action actor, Jared Leto, did a great job bringing the skull-faced terror to life.
Sitting down with Empire‘s Ben Travis for the magazine’s upcoming MOTU cover story, Knight was eventually asked as to what fans could expect from the would-be conqueror of Eternia’s upcoming silver screen appearance.
Beginning with a reflection on Filmation’s original version of the villain, the Bumblebee director asserted, “Skeletor was a really interesting villain.”
“He looked cool. He was scary. He was funny. He was insecure. And then of course he had this distinctive voice. I wanted someone to craft their own version of that.”
And found someone he did, with Knight ultimately tagging the aforementioned Suicide Squad (2016) star to play yet another wild-eyed, cackling, white-skinned-and-purple-clad bad guy.
“Jared approached us, because he loves Skeletor and has his own history with the character. He wanted to swing for the fences. And ultimately we landed on something that I’m really happy with. Skeletor’s kind of the embodiment of toxic masculinity.”
Closing out the Skeletor topic with a bit of trivia, the creator behind Paranorman and Kubo and the Two-Strings informed his host that when it came to the film’s original pitch that the face of Hodrak’s apprentice would be a golden skull helmet rather than his actual skeleton visage, “I said, ‘Fuck that shit. Skeletor has a skull face.'”
“That’s just the way it is,” Knight declared. “It’s a living, talking, emoting skull, and that’s that.”
Boasting an impressive cinematic track record, with his Laika Studios work being widely praised as some of the best pieces of Western animation and Bumblebee being generally liked by even those Transformers fans fed up with the live-action Bayverse, Knight’s proven history as a genuinely good director has made these comments all the more eye-brow raising to MOTU fans, as allowing such ‘pop-politics’ to take priority over his natural creative talents would be a disservice to everyone involved.
While there does exist the twin possibilities that the director’s observation of Skeletor’s ‘toxic masculinity’ was more ‘definitional’ than ‘condescendingly antagonistic’, whether or not Knight has done a proper job of handling the source material will ultimately be revealed when Masters of the Universe hits theaters on June 5th.
