“There’s an arc to this obviously,” Venom: Let There Be Carnage filmmaker Andy Serkis explains about connecting Sony’s Spider-Man villain to the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“We weren’t thinking of individual movies, but thinking about eventually where it’s going to go,” says the motion capture actor-turned-director, whose box office credits exceed $12 billion worldwide, on today’s Hero Nation podcast.
“Take us a way down the line, but this leaves room for other explorations in the Venom-verse,” Serkis teases about the future of Sony’s franchise. “There are other interesting characters that Venom can come against before he comes up against Spider-Man.”
Listen to our intriguing conversation with Serkis below discussing how he took the reins of Venom and raised the stakes after being tapped by the pic’s leading man, story by scribe and producer Tom Hardy:
Key for Serkis and Hardy going into the sequel was that “tone was the biggest challenge,” says Serkis — that is balancing the grave horror of Venom with the hysterical bombastic side of the character. Let’s just say in part two here, the anti-hero in black parties down. In essence, Venom is about the battle between the superego and the ID.
In addition to talking about the continuation of Venom, we talk with Serkis about one of his favorite films: 2010’s Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, in which Serkis plays, non-mo-cap, Ian Dury, who after being stricken with polio at a young age defied expectations and became one of the pioneers in Britain’s 1970s punk rock scene.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage starts previews tonight in theaters at 4 p.m. Critics are already aboard the sequel at 76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, besting the first film’s 30% Rotten rating. Industry estimates believe Venom 2 can open to $60 million stateside this weekend.