Christopher Kusiak, the location manager for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, recently explained how they filmed in a real maximum security prison. In Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the prison is first seen when reporter Eddie Brock is sent to interview the murderous Cletus Kasady. Eddie later returns to the prison, Kasady bites Eddie’s hand, and Eddie’s blood turns Cletus into Carnage. Empowered by Carnage, Cletus wreaks havoc throughout the cell block and breaks out of prison in a scene that involves, well, a lot of carnage.
While the scenes of Eddie meeting with Cletus Kasady and the interiors of the prison were not filmed on location in San Francisco, the exteriors of the prison were all real, including several shots inside the prison perimeter on prison grounds. These scenes were filmed on location at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco while the maximum-security facility was still fully operational, with real prisoners still on site. This meant that every detail of filming had to be meticulously planned, like where they could put the equipment and how long it could be there, along with emergency procedures in the case of a natural disaster or a real prison break.
In an exclusive interview with Kusiak, he talks to Screen Rant about the months of planning that went into that single day of filming. Every detail had to be mapped out in an effort to keep the actors separate from the prisoners and keep everyone safe, and there were special protocols put in place in case of emergency. When asked if there was any concern about a prison break while they were filming, Kusiak answered, “Yes, everybody had picture name badges, the background that wore the San Quentin prisoner jumpsuits had name badges with the picture on them under their prison jumpsuit and if there was some sort of altercation we were to line up at the nearest door and flash our badges and get out as soon as possible.”
Of all the fascinating locations filmed in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the real maximum security prison may have been the most incredible and the trickiest to accomplish. Filming in San Francisco in the Spring of 2020 (exactly when Matrix 4 was filming there), Venom 2 lists many iconic and interesting locations like Coit Tower, the Tenderloin district, and Grace Cathedral. Filming took roughly 3 weeks and covered much of the city, but it was the single day of filming at the prison that clearly involved the most planning.
While filming went smoothly and there was no prison break during the filming of Venom: Let There Be Carnage (prison break by Carnage being the exception, of course), the very real prospect of an emergency situation occurring and the prospective danger the filmmakers were in, does bring into perspective the negotiations currently underway for the film unions. Filmmakers work notoriously long hours and go to great lengths in an effort to create the worlds seen on film, at times even going into dangerous situations, like the one at San Quentin during the filming of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. If the negotiations fail, a strike is imminent, and film production would cease for an unforeseen length of time. Hopefully, things will be sorted before production is set to begin on the prospective Venom 3.
