New details about Jared Leto’s Skeletor, particularly his voice, have been revealed for Amazon MGM Studios’ Masters of the Universe film.
Amazon MGM Studios provided a first look at Leto’s Skeletor when they released the first trailer for the film, but noticeably the character’s voice was never heard.
Now, Empire via He-Mania.com has revealed what Leto’s Skeletor voice will sound like, “And while (Jared Leto’s) vocalisation avoids rehashing the memorable nasal whine of the original cartoon Skeletor (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer), it doesn’t sound like his own, having instead a dry, Shakespearean timbre.”
This likely means we won’t be getting the Saturday-morning cartoon cackle from the original animated series.
On top of revealing details about Leto’s Skeletor voice, Empire also shared that Leto wears a body suit while portraying the villain, “...though Leto is playing the character, the actor is all but invisible: his body is swathed in a blue-skinned muscle suit and his face is entirely replaced with a CG-animated skull.”
The film’s director Travis Knight also informed Empire that Skeletor will embody “toxic masculinity.”
“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,” Knight said. “I wanted someone to craft their own version of that.”
“Jared [Leto] 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,” he continued. “Skeletor’s kind of the embodiment of toxic masculinity.”
The Masters of the Universe sees Prince Adam living on Earth, but is led back to Eternia by the Sword of Power. Upon returning to his home, he discovers that it is now ruled by Skeletor. He teams up with Teela and Man-At-Arms to save his family and his world and become He-Man.
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Pre-Filmation versions of Skeletor (the original commercial, records and book-and-tape sets) had a deeper, drier voice, and Frank Langella's performance stands on its own as a franchise highlight. (I am morally certain that it will outshine whatever Leto comes up with.) OTOH, nearly every post-Filmation version has taken cues from Oppenheimer's voice, and this movie is trying so hard to ape Filmation in other regards I'm surprised they didn't go with a resemblance on the voice.
Jared Leto
Fake Shakespearean accent
Bad cg skull face
"Toxic masculinity"
Please Hollywood, please sell me harder on never watching this monstrosity you've become so proud in making.