Exclusive: Tyrese Gibson Talks 'Morbius,' Joining the Marvel Universe & Being Media Trained

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I watched Morbius yesterday. Congratulations on the movie. How are you feeling?

I feel great. I watched the movie yesterday, too, for the first time. I know people get paid to say good things about the movie, whether they actually like it or not. Man, let me tell you something. I did not remember that I had to pee. The movie started and I was like, “Damn, man, the movie just started. I got to pee.” That shit went away, man. I did not go to the bathroom until the movie was over. It was unbelievable. I could not believe it, from start to finish. Oh my God, man. Daniel Espinosa, the director. There is no way his last film was Safe House with Denzel Washington. He went from Safe House to directing Morbius? What he and Jared Leto put on film… History. 

I happen to be a person that’s lucky enough and blessed enough to sometimes sit on the front row of my own life. I can’t believe my life. Whether I got five minutes or 45 minutes in the movie, it doesn’t matter. I’m sitting there and I’m just so grateful. I cannot believe I’m a part of the Marvel Comics Universe, the MCU. I didn’t come into the MCU the way everybody else came into the MCU. I came in with Spidey on the back. I came in via the Spidey universe. 

You filmed this movie years ago, but because of the pandemic, there have been delays. How does it feel knowing that people are finally going to be able to watch this?

That’s the thing. Film critics, go sit down. Go sit down. Do you understand how happy we are to be able to go to a freaking movie theater right now? I was in the theater yesterday with no mask on, vaccinated, and sitting there happy. I had grease on the side of my mouth, man. I was up in there.

I’ve never seen the movie. Oh, man. It was so great. I’m so proud of everybody in this cast. Matt Smith, Al Madrigal. Adria [Arjona]. Amazing. You see I’m rolling my R’s? 

You have to. Your partner is also Agent Rodriguez (Al Madrigal). When he said his last name, I was like, ‘That’s my cousin!’

Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. Hey, proudly, I’m a Blaxican. In Furious 7, I told everybody I was a Blarab—a Black Arab. And now I’m letting y’all know I’m a Blaxican. My partner’s last name is Rodriguez in Morbius. Every scene we did, we were like, “Yeah!” I was touching his shoulder. He was sitting in front of me. I was like, “We did it, baby!” I’m so excited.

In superhero movies, you always have FBI agents or police officers but something about Agent Stroud stood out to me. What was your favorite aspect of playing him?

Well, here’s the thing. I think they really set me up for the sequel. And I say that loosely. I say that loosely. I could have easily gone above and beyond to really try and hurt Morbius. Because he did a couple of really bad things and hurting him or trying to get rid of him was justified. But something in me didn’t want to hurt him, didn’t really want to take him out, because when I was in Afghanistan, he gave me some blood that saved my life while I was in the middle of the war. And so what did I look like hurting him when he stopped me from being hurt? So now I’m going to be in Morbius 2.

There was a backstory to the character. You’re not just an FBI agent. There’s more to it.

You caught that! You caught that. I’m complex.

There was also a fight scene (with Leto) in the lobby. It was short, but it was good. There was a lot going on. What was it like preparing for that scene?

Nerve-wracking. It was nerve-wracking. For the acting community, Jared Leto is what they call a method actor. So he gets all the way in character and he stays in character for the duration of the movie. You don’t walk up to him in between takes with the small talk. He’s fully, fully in character. Some people look at that as extreme, but after seeing what I just seen, I’m not talking to nobody on my next movie. You get to really lock in. 

What did you learn the most from Jared? Aside from not talking to people. 

No, no, no. I was just playing. I was being facetious. He definitely talked. He definitely was a good guy. But he was in his zone, man, and you just got to respect it. He’s not the first person I’ve ever worked with that’s a method actor, so I was prepared, but it just shows you like, “Yo, man, it’s game time.” I don’t think you get to talk to Kobe and Michael Jordan that often. They’re in their zone. You’re either going to come to practice or you’re going to be ready to dance. It’s time to dance. Or you’re going to just look at my greatness from the sideline.

He brought a level of intensity and seriousness. Because, unfortunately, a lot of us get paid a lot of money regardless if you’re actually worth it or not. A lot of people make a lot of money in these movies. To see somebody taking this shit that seriously, man. It brought a level of intensity and seriousness to me and just made us all like, “Man, we over here working with Jordan, baby. We got to go."

Everybody involved was really acting, acting.

He went crazy, man. Listen, man. Jared Leto is a real guy. I’m telling y’all. They paid me nice. You know what I’m saying? They can’t pay me to have an opinion on a movie even if I’m in it. If I ain’t rocking with it, I’m going to be like, “Yo, just don’t ask me those types of questions." We would’ve had the publicist call you and say, “Don’t ask him about this. Don’t ask him about that.” Because I ain’t got nothing good to say. Morbius, from start to finish, was incredible. I’m talking about it as a fan of Marvel movies. I got my moments in the film, but that’s not the reason I love the movie, man. I watched that shit as a real fan and I was like, “Yo, man, this is amazing.” I was there with my family. I didn’t have a mask on. I had my butter popcorn. The music was so loud. You try and lean over and say something to your girl, and then some shit goes on the movie. I jumped a couple of times. 

I watched an interview and you said Daniel Espinosa brought something out of all the actors. What do you think he brought out of you specifically?

Daniel Espinosa is a true artist. I mean, this man lives in Spain. He’s out there. He’s like, “Yo, man, I don’t do all the Hollywood shit, man. I live out here. With my family.” He’s like, “I get to go to restaurants in my community and see the same people every day. There are no cameras. There’s no paparazzi.” He just wants to be a regular guy and focused on the art. And it shows. Because sometimes when you’re out here and you’re in Hollywood and you want to be at every party and every club and every event, you get bombarded with all these thoughts and opinions and all of the shit and it takes you away from focusing on the craft. Daniel Espinosa is a true artist. I mean, the fact that he still has a ponytail on his head in 2022 tells you everything.

He’s far removed from what is current.

Don’t talk to Daniel Espinosa about a haircut. Don’t talk to him about a haircut. He’s an artist. He’s a real guy. When he’s on the set, he’s got all the screens and monitors in front of him and he’s watching everything and every move. Even if they got people shooting in a different location, he’s watching everything. Protecting every frame of this movie. It is true beauty and the manifestation of beauty. Every frame of this movie.

What does it feel like for you as a Marvel fan to now say, ‘Hey, I was in one of these movies’?

You’re talking about this movie right here? Hold on, let me move this [movie poster] over. You see that? What does that say? “A new Marvel legend arrives.” They didn’t say, “A new legend from the Spidey-Verse.” They made me sign like, 10 pages of NDAs, man. They locked us down, man. We couldn’t say nothing. I’m like, man, this is a mafia. They got us so locked down. You can’t say nothing about nothing. 

They had us sign like 15 pages of NDAs. We could not talk about anything. So let me just give you a sense of my media training around the confidentiality around Morbius. Now, keep in mind. I was not allowed to be on set on the days that I wasn’t filming. We could not see anything. So when I watched the movie last night, I’m sitting there like, “Holy shit. Look at this movie.” They trained me to deflect it and disown it and just get away from the questions. The lockdown levels was real. I was like, "Yo, man, this Marvel comics thing is serious."