The Tom Hardy-led Spider-Man spinoff Venom is looking to cast actor Reid Scott, best known for playing the ambitious lobbyist-turned-TV-anchor Dan Egan on HBO's comedy series Veep. Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate have also reportedly entered into talks about joining the Sony production, which is centered around the popular antihero who debuted in the Amazing Spider-Man comic book in 1988.
Rumors of a Venom solo film circulated for months before confirmation finally arrived in early 2017 that Sony is indeed moving ahead with the project; tabbing Tom Hardy to tackle the lead role of Eddie Brock, a journalist who bonds with an alien symbiote and becomes a nemesis of Spider-Man. Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer is set to call the shots from a script by Scott Rosenberg (Gone In Sixty Seconds), Kelly Marcel (Saving Mr. Banks) and Jeff Pinkner (The Dark Tower).
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According to Variety, Scott is in talks to join Hardy in the cast of Venom. No details are yet known about what role Scott would be playing, but this is hardly a surprise given the secrecy surrounding the project. Venom is expected to go before cameras beginning in late October, after being delayed on two occasions.
Potential new Venom cast member Reid Scott is best-known for playing the self-confident and smug Veep character Dan Egan, a Washington lobbyist who later becomes a TV news anchor. Scott has taken on multiple supporting roles on television and in film, often playing handsome love interests. Scott can currently be seen as Hollywood producer Justin Miller in Reese Witherspoon's indie comedy Home Again.
Venom was already going to be a much-hyped film given the character's prominence in Spider-Man lore, but things were cranked up a notch when the formidable Hardy took on the lead role. Venom would have been an even bigger deal had Sony worked it out for Tom Holland's Spider-Man to appear, but alas that will not be happening. After Venom hits screens, Sony will spin off two more well-known Spider-Man characters with their Silver Sable/Black Cat movie, Silver and Black.
Spider-Man may be firmly entrenched as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe right now, taking him out of play for Sony, but the studio is still doing their best to get as much mileage as they can out of the Spider-Man universe. For now, Venom and the other Spider-Man spinoff films will be considered MCU-adjacent but not officially part of the MCU; a circumstance that is more than a tad confusing.
NEXT: Venom Co-Creator Excited By Tom Hardy Casting
Source: Variety
