With Venom: Let There Be Carnage now playing in theaters, I recently landed an extended interview with director Andy Serkis to talk about the making of the Venom sequel. During the wide-ranging interview he talked about how they always planned for a fast moving and lean film, the way they figured out how many VFX shots they could get with their budget, how the script and story changed during production, what he learned from other directors that he took with him to this project, the post-credits scene, how he landed the gig, how they came up with the club scene where Venom takes the stage, if they ever had another title in mind, and more. In addition, Serkis talked about producing Taika Waititi’s sports comedy Next Goal Wins, and the upcoming Luther movie with Idris Elba.
As most of you know, Venom: Let There Be Carnage is about Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) trying to get his career back on track by interviewing serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) as a favor to the San Francisco police. Unfortunately, Cletus Kasady becomes the host of the symbiote Carnage and escapes prison after a failed execution. Venom 2 also stars Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, and Stephen Graham. The film was written by Kelly Marcel, based on a story she wrote with Hardy.
Watch what Andy Serkis had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Andy Serkis
- How did he land an executive producer credit on Taika Waititi’s sports comedy Next Goal Wins?
- What can he say about the film?
- What has he learned from other directors that he’s worked with that he took with him for when he directs?
- How did he land the Venom 2 job?
- Did he tell Tom Hardy that the only way he will direct the Venom sequel is if they get rid of Woody’s wig from the first film?
- How did the story and script change during the filming process?
- How they always planned for a fast moving and lean film.
- Did they ever discuss calling the film Venom: Lethal Protector or some other version of the title?
- How do they figure out how many VFX shots they will be able to get with the budget they have?
- When did they figure out the post credits scene?
- How they shot the after the credits scene after production had wrapped.
- Who came up with the club scene and how they went about shooting it?
- What can he say about the upcoming Luther movie starring Idris Elba?
