Venom stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist who merges with an alien symbiote to become the titular anti-hero. The movie is directed by Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer and is a combination action-film, comedy, and dark horror. Venom also stars Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, and Reid Scott and is now in theaters.
Avi Arad has been the CEO of Toy Biz, the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, and the founder of Marvel Studios. Matt Tolmach managed both Spider-Man franchises before Marvel Studios’ involvement in 2015. Along with Spider-Man Homecoming’s Amy Pascal, they are producing Sony’s latest comic book movie.
Related: Venom's Post-Credits Scenes Explained
Both Arad and Tolmach were delighted when Tom Hardy took on the role of Eddie Brock. Arad said, “He chose us.” Tolmach expanded on that, saying, “He did choose us. But you know this. Venom is such a beloved, sacred character. You got to do right by that character, because you’ve got to do right by people’s expectations. It’s a character that demands integrity, it’s a super intense character, it’s a complicated layered character. Who pulls that off?"
Continued Arad:
“And the only person that can pull that off is somebody who brings that level of integrity. Right away, when we were making this movie, you’d say to someone, ‘Hey, what are you working on?’ And you say, ‘I’m making a Venom movie with Tom Hardy.’ And their like, ‘No way. Wow, that’s awesome.’ Because you look at his career--. You take it seriously."
Tolmach continued, “You look at the movies he’s made. He takes massive risks, he is so complicated and brilliant and nuanced and original. It always feels… it always has integrity. So, lining up an actor who brings that, and also is just a bad ass, I mean you just stand next to him. He’s a real bad ass, so is Eddie Brock, so is Venom. So, things just lined up.”
Director Ruben Fleischer also had nothing but praise for the actor. Tom Hardy plays both Eddie Brock and the voice of the alien symbiote Venom. “And so, for Tom especially, the duality was a theme that he was really excited to play,” said Fleischer.
He continued:
“And the way he did it was incredible to watch. He would wear an earwig and he would basically pre-record all of Venom’s lines. And so, he’d be in the middle of a scene, talking to Michelle [Williams] or by himself, the sound guys would just trigger Venom’s voice. So, he’d have something to react to and then he’d talk to it and then they’d play Venom’s line back.
“So, he really was hearing voice in his head the whole time, which is why I think the performance feels so real and so natural. When he’s walking on the street, when he first hears Venom and he’s like, ‘Who said that, who said that?!’ He’s literally hearing the voice in his head. So, he has something to react to. Which I think makes it so realistic, his performance.”
Talking more on the character of Eddie Brock, Arad said, “The point of it is, that Eddie is looking for attention. Eddie wants to do good things, but because of his life, shortcuts are okay and then they’re not okay. And the only one who is going to call him a loser is the symbiote. Right? But then he’s got to come clean and say, ‘I’m a loser too.’ So, okay. People are going to understand this and see it’s like a classic buddy movie. Two guys who become one. That’s awesome!”
