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Published On: Sun, Aug 26th, 2018

‘Venom’ News: Tom Hardy, Ruben Fleischer on details, new photos, two sequels, Carnage and She-Venom

The new issue of Total Film Magazine has an in-depth feature on Venom which gives fans new details on Tom Hardy’s roles, Carnage, Riot and confirmed plans for two sequels.

“I’m not going to lie, I just thought he was a black Spider-Man,” confesses Hardy when he’s asked just how much he knew about Venom before being cast as Eddie Brock. “I didn’t really read comic books, so my information was limited. But I was given loads of comics when I got involved. All the comics! And more importantly, I had my son as my guide. I was versed in the way of Venom by a 10-year-old. I consulted the oracle, there. And he would steer me on.”

Hardy explains the very unique relationship between Eddie Brock and his newfound symbiote.

“I was like, ‘This is a great character, because he’s a diverse antihero. He’s not a good guy, and he’s not a bad guy.'”

“He’s connected to this alien who’s not from this planet. They’ve got to figure out an ethical framework between the two of them, and neither of them are run-of-the-mill types. There’s this kind of Odd Couple [relationship] between the two of them. I enjoyed the Jekyll and Hyde nature of that, in a superhero world.”

Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Rogue One) stars as the film’s “villain,” Carlton Drake, but that’s not how Ahmed sees it.

“Honestly, I don’t see him as an evil megalomaniac,” he explains. “He doesn’t see himself that way. No one thinks they’re the bad guy.”

Drake heads the Life Foundation and believes that the key to saving humanity is bonding them with symbiotes.

“There’s a strong case for what Carlton is trying to achieve, which is trying to ensure that humanity has a future. And he’s looking at the big picture.” As for whether or no he looked to any real-life inspirations to bring the character to life, the actor adds: “It’s more about bringing the Carlton Drake of the comic books up to date in a contemporary reality.”

“It’s very much a pure Venom story,” says director Ruben Fleischer referring to the iconic Lethal Protector series, “which is something that we’ve done with this film – try to make it as much Venom’s movie as we could. You know, we have limitations in the inception of the movie… And then also the title, Lethal Protector. At that point, Venom has achieved this antihero quality. But he’s not just a pure villain. As it says, a lethal protector. So he’s a violent vigilante…so he’s somewhere in between.”

The Zombieland director discussed Hardy’s value to the duality of Eddie Brock and the anti-hero Venom.

“Tom brings so much complexity, and I would say danger, to the roles and characters he plays,”says Fleischer. “Those are two inherent qualities of Eddie Brock and Venom, the complexity and the menace. So getting to watch Tom live between these two characters who are sharing a body and having to navigate these two forces simultaneously was really impressive and fun to watch.”

It turns out that playing those dual roles is what attracted Hardy to the movie as well. “For me, it was the multiple personalities, because to play that, on a kind of epic level, a superhero level, that was the big draw.”

Talking of dual roles, a lot has been said about the voices of both Eddie Brock and Venom in the movie and Tom Hardy has finally explained his approach to both characters.

“I like to just play, and be playful, really, and just have fun,” he says pointing to Warrior and “a little bit of Woody Allen neurosis” as his inspiration for Eddie. “At some point, he’s going to become at one with this creature that’s living rent-free in his body, and come to terms with it. So we had to have a range in his voice.”

As for Venom, “Initially, when I read it, I was like, ‘He’s outlandish and big.’ I wanted to something that would stand out, so that he was enigmatic and charismatic, as well as being dangerous and scary.” As a result, he looked at the likes of Redman, Buster Rhymes, and James Brown for ideas.”There’s something electric and soulful, but at the same time, primal about those voices.”

Hardy didn’t wear a motion-capture costume when Venom was shooting, it turns out there was actually a very good reason for that. 

“It wasn’t motion-capture, because the eyeballs on the creature, on Venom, and the mouth, they don’t match with my eyeballs and mouth,” the actor laughs. “So the mo-cap treatment went out of the window pretty quickly.”

“Facially, your eyes and teeth and tongue are not going to match with this,” he continues. “And you need a 7ft tall basketball player in a Lycra suit for the physical shots.”

More photos from the new article HERE

Ahmed explained a bit about his alter-ego, Riot.

“It’s certainly a film where all the characters, at least emotionally, have to face themselves and make decisions about what kind of person they want to be.”

That’s frustratingly vague but Fleischer would go on to shed some more light on what we should expect. “Without going into too much details, we tried to make [the other symbiotes] look as cool, and evoke the comics as much as possible. With Riot, who is our featured symbiote, there’s some distinctive qualities to his character from the comics that we definitely chanelled.”

“The look of his eyes, his hands, his color, and his bearing are unique from Venom,” he adds. “So we made sure that he stands out, and try to make him looks as close to the comics as we could.”

Fleischer says that “There are other villains in the movie too – we’re definitely planning a big world with these characters.”

While there are rumors of Carnage, a character Woody Harrelson has been thought to voice/play.

“I think it’ll be really fun for fans to go see the movie and see for themselves,” Fleischer teased, clearly hinting that Cletus Kasady’s possible role is a closely guarded secret.

Comic book fans will know that Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) ultimately becomes She-Venom and there was silence, except for Williams, who did say that, “She-Venom would be a dream come true!”

On sequel news: Despite all that talk of Venom somehow fitting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Spider-Man’s world, Fleischer is reluctant to commit to any firm plans for the future films.

“We definitely are thinking about this world as a big evolving world, and we want it to have the option of going in different directions. You’ll have to see what groundwork has been laid.”

Despite that, the filmmaker is adamant that the movie is very much a standalone adventure…for now.

“The movie’s just all about Venom. so that’s what we’re focused on. It’s introducing Eddie and Venom. And then as to where it goes from there? We’ll have to see…”

“I’m open to whatever you want to do with it,” Hardy added. “We’ve signed up for three of them. So it’s very much an open case. We’ll see what people’s responses are to it. I think it’s an awesome character. I love playing both of them. It’s an amuse-bouche, and for Sony, it’s the Venom-verse launched in isolation, as it were.”

“We all prepped for it to be a standalone universe. So whatever Sony want to attach to it at a later date, it’s a fulcrum piece. But let’s see what happens when it lands.”

Reid Scott (Veep) has been cast as Patrick Mulligan, a police officer who ultimately becomes the RED symbiote named Carnage. The popular red symbiote is more unstable and dangerous than Venom.

Jenny Slate (voice actor on Secret Life of Pets, Despicable Me 3) can be seen in the footage as the awkward scientist, Dr. Dora Skirth.

Some other cast include: Michelle Lee is Donna Diego, a yellow and red creepy symbiote named Scream. What is strange is that IMDB listed Sailor Larocque as Donna Diego/Scream, so perhaps there is more to this story or Sailor is doing the motion capture part.

Venom was scripted by Scott Rosenberg, Jeff Pinkner and Kelly Marcel and Will Beal.

Scott Haze will play Roland Treece, a corrupt businessman introduced in Lethal Protector #3. He stars with Mac Brandt, Sam Medina and Gail Gamble.

Tom Holland is expected to make cameo (rumored to be an after credit stinger), likely as Peter Parker, not as Spidey.

Venom arrives in theaters October 5, 2018.

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