'The Little Things' Will Turn Jared Leto Into A Serial Killer

In his ongoing quest to play nothing but creeps, Jared Leto is going from the Joker and Morbius the Living Vampire to playing a serial killer. The actor is in talks to join The Little Things cast, which stars Denzel Washington and Rami Malek as cops trying to catch a killer. John Lee Hancock (The Highwaymen) is set to direct.

Variety is reporting that Jared Leto will likely play a serial killer in The Little Things, a new thriller from John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, Saving Mr. Banks). Here's the synopsis:

The story follows a burned-out Kern County, Calif. deputy sheriff named Deke (Denzel Washington) who teams with Baxter, a crack LASD detective (Rami Malek), to reel in a wily serial killer. Deke's nose for the "little things" proves eerily accurate, but his willingness to circumvent the rules embroils Baxter in a soul-shattering dilemma. Meanwhile, Deke must wrestle with a dark secret from his past.

Leto would be the "wily serial killer," because of course he would. The premise here sounds like an old school thriller from the late '90s, when Seven inspired producers to trot out a string of high concept serial killer thrillers. I'm not complaining – those films can often be quite entertaining. The thing giving me pause here is John Lee Hancock, a filmmaker who doesn't inspire much excitement. I'd be more into this if someone with a lot more style was involved. Oh well.

In any case, Washington is always watchable, and I have no doubt he'll bring his effortless charm to the lead. And it'll be nice to see Malek get far, far away from his Bohemian Rhapsody role and play something different here, too.

Leto is currently shooting the Marvel-Sony film Morbius, and then he may or may not return to the role of Joker at some point. While a standalone Joker movie starring Leto was talked about previously, we also have a standalone Joker movie starring Joaquin Phoenix opening this year. Which makes me think the Leto Joker film is never going to happen.

The Little Things is expected to start shooting this fall.