Jared Leto Smeared “Blood” On His Face To Terrify Masters Of The Universe Cast As Skeletor

Masters of the Universe director Travis Knight revealed the lengths that Jared Leto went to in order to appear scary on the set of the upcoming film.

In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan, Knight, who previously helmed ParaNorman and Bumblebee, opened up about what it was like working with Leto on the set of Masters of the Universe, including the fact that the actor “would do something unexpected every single day, in ways that would delight me, that would horrify me, that would make me laugh.”

Despite the unpredictable nature of his behavior, it felt fitting for the character that Leto is playing, since all of those characteristics are part of the villain Skeletor.

As far as his performance as Skeletor is concerned, Knight added that Leto wanted to “swing for the fences with this character. He wanted to make a villain for the ages,” and the director believes Leto succeeded on that front.

“He would do something unexpected every single day. In ways that would delight me, that would horrify me, that would make me laugh. But that’s part of the character. Skeletor is an iconic villain from the ’80s. He’s funny, he’s scary, he’s intimidating, he’s insecure, he looks super cool. And Jared knew that he wanted to swing for the fences with this character. He wanted to make a villain for the ages. And I really do think he succeeded, because he is so much fun to watch. He’s so awful, he’s so entertaining, and he’s just so much fun. And that comes down to getting an actor who is extraordinary at what he does and giving him license to do his thing, which he does.”

One specific example of something unexpected Leto did on the set was smearing “blood-like” makeup on his face so that he looked really scary. While filming scenes, even though he was wearing a prosthetic skeletal muscle suit, his face still looked like Jared Leto’s, with CGI adding the skull in post-production.

Since he didn’t look like Skeletor, adding the blood-like makeup “gave the other actor something to play off of.” Knight said that was an “act of generosity” on the part of Leto because “he’s looking at his other performer and wanting to make sure that they can live in the scene with him.”

“I think the one thing that he did, which I understood why he did it, was he’s wearing his prosthetic skeletal muscle suit. He’s got the amazing costume on, but it’s still just Jared’s face because that was all replaced by a CGI skull. But he didn’t want the other actors that he was sharing the scenes with to look at him and see Jared. He wanted them to look at him and see something scary. So he would put this kind of blood-like, smeary makeup on his face. So he looked scary as hell. He didn’t look like Skeletor, but it just gave the other actor something to play off of, which is, as far as I’m concerned, an act of generosity, because he’s looking at his other performer and wanting to make sure that they can live in the scene with him.”

All sorts of stories have been reported over the years of Leto’s method acting that he’s employed on some film sets, including Suicide Squad. According to Knight, the actor didn’t go full method during production on Masters of the Universe, though he still wanted to make sure that his co-stars were immersed in the scenes they were filming.

“Look, I’ve heard those stories as well. From my own experience, which is all I can speak to, no, he was not like that.”

Skeletor is an iconic villain in pop culture who has appeared in several Masters of the Universe projects going back decades, including 1983’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, 1987’s live-action film, 1990’s The New Adventures of He-Man, 2002’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and 2021’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

Frank Langella, who was known at that time for movies like Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Twelve Chairs and Dracula, played Skeletor in the first live-action Masters of the Universe film, which was widely panned by critics (21% on Rotten Tomatoes), though Langella’s performance as the villain received a lot of praise.

Now Leto is succeeding Langella as only the second actor to play a live-action Skeletor. His Masters of the Universe co-stars include Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Charlotte Riley and Morena Baccarin.

So far, Knight’s new version of Masters of the Universe is receiving solid reviews from critics and a Certified Fresh score of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its theatrical release.

Masters of the Universe will be released in theaters on Friday, June 5, 2026.