One of the most notorious characters in the Marvel Universe - the dangerous Venom, who occupied the body of journalist Eddie Brock - is returning to the big screen in a sequel to the eponymous blockbuster. In the second part (Venom: Let There Be Carnage, 2021), the heroes face an even stronger and pitiless foe - supervillain Carnage, who chose to share a host body with serial killer Cletus Kasady, and also deal with their own relationships.
In an interview with TASS, Venom star Tom Hardy, who for the first time co-authored the screenplay, explained why the character's sinister nature doesn’t stop the audience from loving Venom, and film director Andy Serkis revealed how the actor’s experience helps him work on the set as a director.
Andy, this is the first Venom for you as a director. How did you feel about joining this team? Did you have any expectations?
Andy Serkis: I was thrilled to join it, because, you know, Tom and I wanted to work together for years. I really loved what he did in the first film and I loved the franchise, so to get the opportunity to come on board on a really interesting moment in the story where we are now seeing the evolution of the characters of Venom and Eddie and then, the introduction of a supervillain as Carnage was a real thrill.
So, can you tell me how does your actor’s experience help you when you work with the team on the set?
Andy Serkis: The thing is, having been an actor, there is a sort of an unspoken code when you're working with other actors. When you are an actor-director, because you understand inherently how to hopefully set up an atmosphere whereby everyone could do their best work. And you know I have a great team alongside me, Bob Richardson, obviously, a cinematographer and a great visual-effects supervisor in Sheena Dougal, but working with Tom and working with Woody on set it was just a joy to behold! Because I was enjoying their incredible performances unfold before me and I was just there to, sort of, suggest things occasionally, but mainly to catch the great stuff that was going on.
Tom, you co-wrote the second installment of 'Venom. Did you manage to put all your ideas into this film?
Tom Hardy: I'm really grateful that I got the opportunity to be part of the story creation on this movie. Being part of the initial team after the first movie, Kelly Marcel, my producing partner, my writing partner and I, we were so invested obviously in the first one, we wanted to understand what went well with the first one, what didn't go so well with the first one, and what the fans liked, what they didn't like, what the critics didn't like. On top of that, to look at all of this forensically and try to figure it out. <…> So, we asked the studio, could we make a pitch to give the first go at the story before anybody else, and the studio said - of course!
And then it was the question - who has Sony got in their canon, Spideverse and Marvel, that we can use. We knew we had Carnage because we have definitely seen Carnage, Cletus in the first movie. And what were we going to do with it? How we're going to make that work? And when we started looking, we found out Shriek and she is fantastic! We needed this strong female antagonist. And also she's Cletus' girlfriend too! These guys, they're in love! Like Eddie and Anne and Venom and Anne are in love. There’s a huge crazy love story here. <…> People really enjoyed the relationship between Eddie and Venom, and how could we explore that a bit further as well.
We knew Venom as an evil character, one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, but then it turns out that he is not that bad. How did you reinvent him? What makes him so human in your opinion?
Tom Hardy: In my opinion, I have to find a way into any character that speaks to me <…> In many ways, Venom and Eddie are like Jekyll and Hyde. Split personality, or the good self, the bad self. There’s a smorgasbord of options between paranoia, nobility, integrity, dignity, cowardice, bravery, courage - all of these characteristics that the two of them display at uneven times. And they bring out the best in each other, but they're also constantly in conflict. It presents an entertaining and fun challenge to play with this character.
Venom is a film about the entity of a man and a monster and sometimes they manage to find balance and sometimes we see them fighting as well. How can you describe your interaction as an actor and as a director on the set?
Andy Serkis: The thing is what we really want to do is to explore the tonal range. If you look back at the first movie, a moment that really kind of hammered home for everybody and everybody universally agreed that sort of was the tone, the successful tone of Venom, was the moment in the lobster tank. I think everyone agreed that they loved that moment. And certainly, as a director coming in that was tonally a great marker to start off from, so that everything whether it be comedic, whether the story had pathos in terms of the stakes of the relationships, it all started from that level for me. All of the range, the tonal range of the piece that I had to keep an eye on, was born from a great touchstone moment in the first movie.