Boy George: ‘Music is the thing that has always saved me in all my difficult situations’

David Walliams and Boy George joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about their prizes in Chris Evans’ auction for Ukraine and Jared Leto on his Marvel universe turn as Living Vampire Morbius.

David Walliams on his auction prize of afternoon tea at his house:
“It can be a whole family of people – I will lay on a lovely spread for you – tea and cakes and milkshakes for the kids.
“Afternoon tea is, I think , the best meal of the day. It is really decadent and fun, and kids love it aswell. I’m sure we can have fun.”

He joked that he “had a restraining order” against the current leading bidder and said if Chris bid for the fashion shoot and meet and greet with Holly and Phil on This Morning lot, he would “come on and model the clothes.”
David on the importance of the auction:
“It couldn’t be a better cause and I think everyone is watching the news and thinking what can I do and there is a horrible feeling of helplessness so what you’re doing Chris is amazing and it’s just a pleasure to be involved – this is a wonderful step in the right direction.”

Boy George is auctioning all the rights to a song he has written about Ukraine following his visit to the country 8 years ago.

Boy George on his Ukraine song:
“I went there about eight years ago, I Dj’d there, and I had the most amazing night and I remember thinking, this is such a beautiful place, I must come back. And I suppose the spirit of this song is saying Ukraine is a beautiful country and hopefully it will be a beautiful country again, you know, and I watched this young kid the other day on Instagram saying, Don’t be sad about all of that. It’s difficult not to be because, you know, we’re just looking at it and were horrified and feeling helpless. And you know, to me, it’s just music is the thing that has always saved me in all my difficult situations.”

On wanting to go back to Ukraine

“It was about eight years ago and what was really funny because I worked with my brother in law, my sister’s husband and everybody kept thinking we were a couple. So people kept saying how long have you been together? I just remember thinking it was such a beautiful place. You know, it was summer I got picked up by this incredible kid who was like a punk rocker in this big American car like one of The Adams Family for my whole trip from beginning to end was just magical. And I remember thinking, I must go back, you know, and I would love to do that. I’d love to go back and sing this song.”

Jared Leto
Hollywood star Jared Leto is joining the Marvel universe with his turn as Living Vampire Morbius, and when he appeared on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, he revealed how it felt bringing the comic book antihero to the big screen for the first time, and how the role pushed him to his very limits.

Jared On Morbius:
Morbius, out in cinemas on 31st March, is the origin story of Micahel Morbius, who suffers from a rare blood disease he’s determined to cure. Despite the thorough plans to rid himself of his illness, the cure instead causes transgenic vampirism, with superhuman abilities.

It’s the first time comic book fans have seen Morbius portrayed on the big screen, and it’s something Jared wanted to sink his teeth into (no pun intended).

He told Chris: “I’d never been in a film like this. I’ve never starred in a big Marvel movie, obviously. But what I loved about it is it’s the very first time this character has ever been on the screen. So, it was quite an honour to be asked to bring it to life.”

On starring in a big marvel movie:
There’s quite a lot of pressure that comes with that, as Jared admitted, but the actor wasn’t afraid of the challenge.
Jared continued: “You can always get it wrong. And I think it’s your job to dig deep, to work as hard as you can to bring something that’s, you know, entertaining and exciting for audiences. And I did exactly that. It was a massive transformation in this role. And I really dug in and loved every single second of it.”

Jared is famous for living and breathing the roles he takes on, from The Joker in Suicide Squad, to a heroin addict in Requiem for a Dream, but he was definitely aware of how hard it would be to bring a character like Morbius to life.

On his thoughts on the role:
When asked if he was surprised by how challenging the role could be, Jared replied: “I definitely was not surprised. I knew I’d never done anything like this before. I managed to find a way to always, you know, make things creatively pretty challenging. And I enjoy that.

“I’m a big believer that the harder you work, the greater the reward, and it’s your job to take really big risks, and we did that here. The thing that’s different about it as well is you have this big Marvel movie, but it also walks on the darker side of the Marvel Universe and has elements of horror. It’s a bit scary at times. And I think it’s just a fun film for people that haven’t been in theatres to get back into theatres and go have a blast with it and enjoy.”

Much like other Marvel movies, the action on set relies on elements of CGI, which can be a bit awkward when you’re on set and acting against something that isn’t there.

Chris compared it to a 50/50 ‘Lennon and McCartney’ split, which Jared agreed with. He added: “Yeah, it absolutely is. That’s a good way to say it. It’s Lennon and McCartney, but it’s a little bit you know, a chicken and egg scenario where you’re kind of on-set acting, acting like this monster but you have no idea what it even looks like.

“You have to take a serious leap of faith. Any ego you thought you had just goes right out the window.”
Morbius is out in cinemas on Thursday 31st March.