Woody Harrelson details his research process to play Cletus Kasady in Venom 2. Harrelson first played the role in the end credits scene of 2018's Venom, which stars Tom Hardy as the journalist and host to the titular symbiote Eddie Brock. The sequel, officially titled Venom: Let There Be Carnage, is scheduled to release wide in the US on October 1.
As teased in Harrelson's first scene, Kasady will play a much bigger role in this film, which is directed by Andy Serkis. The serial killer begins the film on death row being interviewed by Eddie, and by an as-yet-unannounced process bonds with a red symbiote known as Carnage. The two escape prison and proceed to wreak havoc, with Eddie and Venom having to step up and stop them amidst personal struggles of their own.
Fans of Carnage are excited to see him realized on the big screen, though Harrelson tells Collider that thinking about it in those terms would have psyched him out. He says he tried to approach his Venom: Let There Be Carnage role like any other character, despite knowing that being part of the Marvel universe would make that difficult. He did, however, consult old comics to try and piece together what made Kasady tick:
Well, I mean, if I'd thought about him having a big fanbase with Marvel fans, that would've been difficult for me. I try to just approach it like I would any other character, although being in the Marvel universe, it's not just gonna be any other thing, but... It was good looking at the old comics and stuff, and trying to get a sense of what kind of nasty shit happened in his childhood that influenced him to become this deranged, you know, serial killer. That was helpful.
Elsewhere in the interview, Harrelson explains that he took the cameo role in the original Venom expecting that director Ruben Fleischer, who worked with him on the Zombieland films, would also make the sequel. When he left the project, Harrelson says, "there was a period where there was some names bandied about, and Tom [Hardy] and I both... really lobbied [Sony Pictures chairman] Tom Rothman to use Andy [Serkis]. And I think probably Tom Rothman today is pretty glad he made that choice."
While fans of Marvel characters are always happy to hear that actors are drawing from the comics, the idea that Harrelson is approaching Kasady as normally as possible should be comforting to Carnage fans. He's a talented actor with a long history of excellent performances under his belt, and to humanize Kasady, as villainous as he is, will only add to the character's intensity. Serkis has promised that Venom 2 stretches its PG-13 rating to do justice to the darkness of Carnage, and it sounds like Harrelson's performance was a key part of that effort.
Source: Collider
