Venom is one of the most divisive and polarizing movies of the past decade. There are still many surprising and incredible facts about the movie that might have escaped your attention. Let’s have a look.
Was Originally Supposed to be Female
Venom’s signature well-built physique and his coarse male voice were one almost written out of the original draft of the 2018 movie’s script. Venom was supposed to be played by a female protagonist. Eddie Brock was not even among the supporting cast of the movie. The original story was about a pregnant woman who loses her husband and then has a miscarriage. The rage and the agony the woman faces attracts the alien symbiote towards her and she becomes venom. While the original story was obviously changed, some part of that draft was inculcated into the script. Michelle Williams’ Character gaining the powers of the Venom Symbiote and saving Brock was not a fluke. It was actually how the original script played out.
Hardy agreed because his son was a fan
Tom Hardy is not as much a comic book nerd as the studio would have you believe. In fact before Venom, he was kind of vocal against the superhero genre. But he still agreed to play Venom. There is one particular reason why he did that. Tom Hardy’s son Loius Hardy is a huge fan of Venom. When he heard the news that the Director of the movie had approached his father for playing the anti-hero on screen, he was ecstatic and convinced Tom to take up the role. Hardy was not at all familiar with Venom and his character back story. His son had to teach him most of those things before the shooting began.
Eddie Brock Protecting the Homeless
Venom may be a head biting alien freak. But he cares deeply for the underprivileged and the homeless. In the comic books, the primary reason Venom was considered an anti-hero was because he used violent means to protect the ones that live on the streets. Many a times he attacked and killed people for hurting the homeless. In the movie, Eddie Brock shows similar traits. He is the first to notice that there are a lot less homeless people on the streets. That is because Drake’s Corporation has been experimenting on them. Brock is the first to raise questions and he is ostracized by his own fraternity for doing so. When he becomes Venom, he continues the same tradition.
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In Development Since the 90’s
A Venom movie was in development hell ever since the 1990’s. As a matter of fact, Venom was supposed to be the first solo superhero movie of its type, long before Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man hit the theaters. Producer Avi Arad forced Sam Raimi to include Venom in Spider-Man 3 after plans for the solo Venom movie tanked. That was the reason the third movie in the Sam Raimi trilogy was such a bomb. It was over-stuffed with too many characters, and it was all because of Avi Arad’s greed to milk the Spider-Man Universe with Venom, who was supposed to get his own shot at the movies later on if Spider-Man 3 had been a hit.
Hardy’s Inspirations
The Venom movie’s protagonist – Eddie Brock, is more or less a very eccentric character. Tom Hardy, who likes to get into the inner sanctums of the characters he plays, needed to replicate that eccentricity. In order to do so, he took multiple inspirations from some of the greatest celebrities of the world. Hardy used three people as the palate of his inspiration – Woody Allen, Connor McGregor, and Redman. The rapper Redmon’s mellow and quirky attitude, Connor McGregor’s Aggression, and Woody Allen’s Comic timing was merged together to create the basis of his character.
The Plastic Lobsters
There is a particular scene in the movie where Eddie, who is recently infected with the Venom Symbiote, goes to a restaurant to warn Michelle Williams. Because of the symbiote in his body, Brock has an incessant need to consume meat and flesh. His hunger knows no bounds. His body is generating too much heat from the metamorphosis. And he decides to take a dip inside the lobster tank. The scene almost got the movie a “No Animals were harmed during filming” label. But the real lobsters were replaced with plastic ones right before Eddie takes a dive. The lobsters you see during the scene. They are not real.
The Planet of the Symbiotes Almost Appeared in the Movie
The symbiote home-world is a very elusive and a mysterious location in the Marvel Comic Book Universe. It lies far beyond the reach of any one and is actually a prison to keep the Symbiote God named Knull incarcerated. The planet almost featured in the Venom movie. According to Director Ruben Fleischer, the planet was almost a part of the theatrical cut of the movie. The scene was later taken to the Director’s Cut. It was then completely removed since it did not add any substance to the movie itself and rather complicated Venom’s back story.
Also Read: 15 Marvel Heroes That Were Venomized
Inspired by Tim Burton’s Batman
Ruben Fleischer did not even know superheroes till he saw Tim Burton’s 1989 movie Batman. The movie inspired him so much that he always wanted to do a superhero flick of his own ever since. But as fate would have it, Fleischer never got that opportunity. It was two decades later that he got a chance when he was offered the Director’s chair by Sony for the 2018 Venom movie. He tried to make the movie along the same dark toned and themed lines as the 1989 Batman movie. We have to say it was not a bad move at all.
Pedro Pascal was Original Choice for Carlton Drake
The original choice for playing Carlton Drake, the movie’s protagonist, was not Riz Ahmed. Before the Four Lions star was being considered for the role, three other actors had already been under review. Pedro Pascal, Matt Smith, and Matthias Schoenaert were the primary choices. Of them, the strongest candidate was Pascal. Pascal did not get that role due to scheduling constraints. That was fate we guess because he later jumped to the DCEU and plays Maxwell Lord in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984.
