‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ filmmakers Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein will make a ‘Venom’ animated movie.
Tom Hardy is aboard to produce.
The movie is at an early stage.
Having managed to get a movie trilogy out of slavering, ravenous Spider-Man character Venom, Sony is looking to keep the franchise alive in the animated realm.
The directors have become an in-demand duo since ‘Bloodlines’ helped to shock the horror movie series back to life with $315 million in box office receipts.
Venom, created by writer Bill Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane, was famously introduced as a villain in 1988’s ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ No. 300, and quickly became a fan-favorite as well as one of his arch-nemeses. He got his first solo comic in 1993.
Sony produced three ‘Venom’ movies starring Tom Hardy as down-on-his-luck journalist Eddie Brock, who bonds with the symbiote. The eponymous first arrived in 2018, followed by sequels ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ in 2021 and 2024’s ‘Venom: The Last Dance.’
Hardy is aboard the new movie as a producer alongside live-action team Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, alongside Kelly Marcel, who wrote on all three of the movies and directed ‘The Last Dance.’
There’s no word on a plot for the animated movie at this early stage –– Sony is in the process of opening a writers’ room to develop ideas, run by Lipovsky and Stein.
The pair are also at work with Chris Columbus on a new ‘Gremlins’ movie. They are also developing to direct the original thriller ‘Long Lost’, described as ‘What Lies Beneath’ meets ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and set up at Universal with Amblin Entertainment producing.
When will the new ‘Venom’ movie be on screens?
Given the development stage, Sony has yet to confirm a release date for the potential movie.
Venom in Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
(Left) ‘Inheritance’ director Neil Burger. Photo Credit: Chris Chapman. (Right) Rhys Ifans in Neil Burger’s ‘Inheritance’. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with director Neil Burger and Rhys Ifans about their work on ‘Inheritance’, developing the screenplay, Burger’s shooting style, the challenges and benefits of filming on an iPhone, Ifans and Phoebe Dynevor’s characters’ estranged father and daughter relationship, and working with the actors on set.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews.
Phoebe Dynevor in Neil Burger’s ‘Inheritance’. Photo courtesy of Angelo Dominic Sesto. An IFC Films Release.
Moviefone: To begin with, Neil, can you talk about conceiving the idea for the film over COVID and the process of developing the screenplay?
Neil Burger: Well, I’d read a New York Times article about a reporter early in COVID, like in April of 2020, going from Serbia all the way to France. The borders are supposed to be open. Suddenly there’s checkpoints with guards with guns. There’s nobody on the street. I was like, “I want to see that, and I don’t want to just do a documentary about it. I want to set a story in it.” So, I began crafting a story, and then the world changed, and the world opened again a little bit, but I still had this story, and I still had this desire to see the new world as it was. I felt like the story was still valid in that way. So that’s where it came from. Then the idea of shooting on an iPhone went hand in hand with that because when you go in with a film crew, you are disruptive. You’re big and you’re noisy and you draw attention to yourself. People are looking at you. I wanted the opposite. I wanted to see how the world was at that point in time. I wanted to see what the new normal were. To do that, we had to be completely under the radar. I thought, what better way, it looks like a friend filming another friend with their iPhone. Everybody’s doing that. So that was the idea. It wasn’t as a gimmick. It wasn’t merely as a substitution to a motion picture camera, but it was because it gave us access. It meant that we could walk through a crowded Cairo market, and nobody would look at us.
MF: As a filmmaker, can you talk about the pros and cons of shooting a movie of this scale on an iPhone?
NB: Well, the pros are that you do have access. You can go anywhere. You can also go right up against somebody’s face and then down to their hands. It’s so mobile. We didn’t use any kind of stabilization or lens or anything like that, and it still looks beautiful. We mucked a little bit with the insides of it. We did, however, shoot on one single lens, the middle lens of the (iPhone) 13. It’s a 26-millimeter lens because the other lenses did not have the resolution that we wanted but the middle lens really does. We’ve blown it up to 60-foot screens, and it looks beautiful. But the other lenses didn’t quite do it, and so then it was like, “Okay, well, we’re just going to embrace that. We’re going to shoot it on one lens.” So, when Rhys, who plays Sam, is talking to (Phoebe) on one side of the street, we don’t go to her on the other side of the street. She’s tiny in the background. That was just like, that’s what it is. That’s the way we’re going to do it. We sort of take that risk as filmmakers and do it that way. So, there were a little bit of lighting things that happened in certain kind of low-light situations, like little bright lights would bounce around in the lens, which we had to remove digitally. But in general, I loved it. I thought it was so refreshing and liberating. I’ve done big movies before and I’ve done big stuff since then, and it’s always like, “Could we move the camera into his hands?” It was like, “Well, the camera’s going to cast a shadow, and we’d have to take out the wall or move that desk.” Then with this, you could just put your hand in and do it. It’s so fast and so fun. It was great.
Rhys Ifans in Neil Burger’s ‘Inheritance’. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.
MF: Rhys, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and the idea of shooting this movie on an iPhone?
Rhys Ifans: Well, I mean what excited me mostly was of course, the screenplay. But in this instance, the exciting thing for me was one, working with Neil of course, and working with Neil in this very new way for both me and for him, which was shooting it all on ostensibly an iPhone and just what that would do to the working creative process. Then it turned out we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very kinetic, immediate, exciting and quick. It took a bit of getting used to. I mean, I say a bit, it took a day or two to get used to and then it was a real thrill. Then coupled with worldwide travel and adventure. When you’re shooting on an iPhone, you get less respect from the public because they don’t think you’re making a film. They just think you’re one of them, which is fantastic. Constantly, there was a sense of this could all go wrong, which for me was fantastic because it gave the whole thing a danger and an edge. It felt like in some instances, a little bit like street theater with a minimal crew. I say minimal crew, I mean generally a crew can be up to 100 plus people, and we had 10, maybe. 10 very skilled technicians. It was great to work with this technology that of course we’re all using, but it was great to be involved with it, with it being in the hands of a great filmmaker like Neil, who knows his way around the grammar of cinema. Those two things, that was the appeal for me, certainly.
MF: Rhys, did shooting the movie on an iPhone change your acting approach at all, or was it the same as other movies you’ve worked on with normal film or video cameras?
RI: It’s funny. It doesn’t change your approach necessarily, but it does change your attitude. On a regular movie, you will come in, you’ll rehearse, then you’ll walk away, and they’ll light the scene and set up the cameras. There’s a lot of waiting time, which in some ways is a good thing. But in other ways it depletes any energy you might discover in rehearsal or during a take, and then they turn around for close-ups, and so it’s a longer process. This felt a lot more immediate in the sense that we could shoot the whole scene, cut and immediately shoot the whole scene again. So, you’re not dropping the ball. It felt a little bit in some ways like a rehearsal room in a theater where you run the scene and the director goes, “That was great. Okay, do that again”, and immediately you do that again. So, what it gave Neil, I guess, was a huge kind of palette in the edit that he could choose from in terms of takes that he liked and that he would ultimately think would serve the story he ends up telling in the edit. So yes, I mean very tiring and exhausting in the sense that you’re constantly feeding the beast, the beast being the film. But I found it very exciting, and a very exciting way to work and a method I’d really love to explore again, in terms of what it does to performance. Then I think the other thing that really helped was of course any crowds or extras you might see in your periphery in this film are real people. Real people in that context are the greatest actors in the world because they don’t know they’re acting and that’s what we all strive to arrive at. So that really fed in the fact that we were in these real situations, and somehow made the situation itself feel realer and more urgent.
Phoebe Dynevor in Neil Burger’s ‘Inheritance’. Photo courtesy of Angelo Dominic Sesto. An IFC Films Release.
MF: Neil, in addition to shooting on an iPhone, you also implemented an experimental shooting style with minimal rehearsals and minimal camera setups. What was it like for you as a filmmaker to work in that way?
NB: Well, the story is very scripted. It’s a thriller, so it must have all its puzzle-pieces parts in order. So, there’s no improv, yet we were willing to kind of be in situations that were loose. We did rehearse beforehand, but then when we got there, we literally would get ready at a hotel and then we would walk down the street to where we were going to shoot. The crew would fall away. It was just me and the cameraman and then the sound man even staying further back, and then Phoebe or Phoebe and Rhys. I would walk to a place in the street, and we had discussed it, then I would walk away, and I’d get a block away and I would just go, “Come on,” and they would start walking and they would do their thing and they were so great. We didn’t do conventional film coverage. There was no wide shot and then an over-the-shoulder shot and the closeup. We didn’t have time for that because even on an iPhone, the more you stood in one place, you were going to eventually attract attention, and I didn’t want that attention. So, we came up with ways to do it in a very caught-live sort of feel and a stolen feel. So, it has a new visual language to it, which also changed how the actors acted, which was great. They had to always be in character because they had to be ready for anything that happened.
MF: Rhys, can you talk about the estranged father-daughter relationship between Sam and Maya, and working with Phoebe Dynevor on that relationship?
RI: Well, I mean Phoebe’s just a joy to work with. We didn’t know each other, but we’ve got friends in common and she’s just very available as an actor. Phoebe similarly just embraced the process. It’s not a process you can resist in any way, shape or form. You do have to kind of jump out of the airplane and hope the parachute will open at some point. She absolutely did that. I just got to watch the film a couple of days ago for the first time. Of course, my character isn’t present in India, and I was always very jealous that they all got to go to India. So, I mean, that’s the other thing with the film, it really does feel like a wonderfully exciting kind of travel log. But she was just a joy and a thrill and fun to work with. I think with a process like this, it’s important that it’s fun and comes from a place of fun, you’re relaxed and then you’re to make yourself available, fresh and playful with the other actor or character. We’ve found that I hope.
Phoebe Dynevor in Neil Burger’s ‘Inheritance’. Photo courtesy of Angelo Dominic Sesto. An IFC Films Release.
MF: Finally, Neil, can you talk about casting Phoebe and Rhys and what it was like working with them on set?
NB: Well, Phoebe we had seen in ‘Bridgerton’, and she was already cast when ‘Fair Play’ came out, but she’s playing a more proper, kind of put-together, conservative character, and here she’s very badass. She’s troubled and she’s self-destructive, and she can do it. I think it’s a Phoebe that people haven’t seen before and they’re going to be knocked out when they see it. Rhys has a very affable quality to it, and I wanted somebody who you looked at and you’re like, “I like that guy,” even though it turns out he has secrets that she spends the rest of the movie unraveling. But what was great about Rhys also was that he loved this methodology, and he normalized it for everybody else, including her. I mean, she was game, but it was stressful and weird. It was like, “Wait, we’re going to just shoot on the airplane without permission?” It was like, “Yeah,” and he was like, “It’s great. We’re going to do it.” So, they had a great mentor-protege, father-daughter relationship and good chemistry in that way. I just do want to say one more thing, and it is that this movie, we sort of can’t believe what we did on this iPhone. We created this international thriller, that goes around the world, New York, Cairo, Delhi, Seoul, and back to New York. There’ve been other shows that have been shot on iPhones, but this is really the first international thriller that has that kind of scope, that has that kind of excitement of an international thriller but done on an iPhone. It’s unique, and we feel very proud that we’re the first ones to do it.
What is the plot of ‘Inheritance’?
A young woman (Phoebe Dynevor) is drawn into an international conspiracy after discovering her father (Rhys Ifans) is a spy.
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock/Venom in Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
Let’s be clear about one thing: when we say that ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is the best of the three movies starring Tom Hardy as both former reporter Eddie Brock and the voice of the alien symbiote that lives inside him, we’re talking about a very low bar. ‘Venom’ (2018) and ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ (2021) were genuinely painful to sit through, with the latter in particular being unwatchable gibberish. ‘The Last Dance,’ written and directed by Kelly Marcel (from a story by Marcel and Hardy), is nonsense too – but it leans all the way into its ridiculousness from the start, which gives it a big advantage.
Whereas it was never fully apparent in the previous two movies, this time it seems like everyone is in on the joke – not just Hardy. So thin on plot that it’s practically transparent, ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ wants you to laugh at it from the start – which makes for a better time and even allows room for a smidgen of heart here and there.
Story and Direction
(L to R) Director Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy on the set of Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Laura Radford.
“Story” is a decidedly loose term here. As explained to us at least twice during the course of the film, the symbiotes (the species to which Venom belongs) have imprisoned their creator, a superbeing named Knull, on the planet Klyntar because he aims to destroy them as well as the rest of the universe (we’re kind of hazy on why, what else is new). The only way for Knull to break free is if he can obtain a “codex” – which looks like just a glowing light – that appears on symbiotes when they’re fully activated within their hosts. Only Venom has the right codex, so Knull sends an army of grotesque aliens called xenophages to find and kill our favorite symbiote and get the thingamajig.
Eddie and Venom, on the lam from the law and the government, are hiding out in Mexico, where we left them at the end of ‘Let There Be Carnage.’ After that quick trip to the MCU universe we saw during the post-credits scene of that film (“I’m sick of this multiverse s**t!” exclaims Venom when they return, echoing numerous moviegoers), they’re back in the Sony Spider-verse when Knull’s first tracker arrives (why they only come one or two at a time is a mystery that’s never adequately explained). The xenophage sets off in pursuit of our pals, a task made difficult by Venom deliberately remaining mostly a voiceover for the first 30 minutes or so of the film.
Meanwhile, a secret government operation located in a facility deep below Area 51, headed by Dr. Payne (Juno Temple) and General Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor), is tasked with collecting as many symbiotes as possible. They’ve already got Detective Mulligan (Stephen Graham), who was infected in the previous film, but they want Venom as well. Between Strickland and his forces and Knull’s xenophages – who are all eventually going to clash — it’s no wonder that Eddie can barely keep a pair of shoes on his feet for more than five minutes.
(L to R) Director Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy on the set of Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Laura Radford.
That description gives the narrative more credit than it may deserve. For its first half, ‘The Last Dance’ is a loosely connected string of bits, jokes, and ideas, with Eddie and Venom bickering more like an old married couple than ever before (“I want to see a Broadway show!” rumbles the symbiote as they discuss their sketchy plans to hide out in New York City). Their back-and-forth – with Hardy once again literally talking to himself in an admittedly impressive comic performance – is as ludicrous as ever, but a little more endearing. Because the film starts from a place of absurdity and stays there, the half-formed collection of skits that passes for a plot goes down easier this time.
The rest of the film finds Eddie/Venom turning a horse into a symbiote, catching a ride with a hippie family led by one-time ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ super-villain Rhys Ifans in a psychedelic Volkswagen van, and taking a side trip to Vegas that serves no purpose except to allow Venom to participate in a dance sequence. All of it leads to an extended climax in which the plot strands, such as they are, unravel in an orgy of CG mayhem.
Marcel, making her directorial debut after toiling for years as a screenwriter, opens up the action more than the previous films, dumping Eddie in the Southwest and giving us the occasional nice vista to take in. But the entire third act takes place in one dark, bland military location, recalling the smallish feel of the first two films, and while she has a solid sense of place during the action scenes, the preponderance of CG-generated monsters in the third act turns much of the climax into sludge.
Yes, there is a bit of heart involved as well, with Eddie and Venom potentially facing the end of their marriage – sorry, we mean parasitic relationship – but none of it really matters. Whatever entertainment value ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ has all comes down to the fact that it revels this time out in its own dumbness, and is better off for it…as far as that goes.
The Cast
(L to R) Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Laura Radford.
This is the Tom Hardy show through and through. Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor are accomplished actors, but their characters are barely fleshed out beyond “stock scientist” and “stock soldier,” with Temple given some half-baked back story about she and her brother getting hit by lightning on a beach. Rhys Ifans’ Martin is the only other character who gets some significant runway, but even his character – along with his ever-patient wife and annoying kids – contributes pretty much nothing meaningful to the story.
Hardy, on the other hand, fills the screen, and even though Eddie isn’t the most articulate guy on the planet (although he’s a regular Chatty Kathy compared to Hardy’s grunting, mumbling motorcycle club leader in ‘The Bikeriders’), he’s clearly just letting rip here and having the time of his life without a thought about whether any of it makes a lick of sense. His throw-it-all-at-the-wall work across all three ‘Venom’ films may end up being the oddest sustained performance of any actor’s career.
Final Thoughts
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock/Venom in Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures.
As we stated at the beginning, ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ is not a good film – but it is a marginally more satisfying experience than its predecessors. Maybe it’s the crazy, old-school British comedy feel that Marcel and Hardy somehow filter their twisted superhero movie through, or perhaps it’s Eddie’s surprising admission that Venom is “his best friend,” but this one feels a little more bearable.
Having said that, three movies is enough. ‘The Last Dance’ does bring Eddie and Venom’s journey to a conclusion, although the post-credits scenes, of course, leave room for more. But Sony’s universe of Spider-Man villain movies without Spider-Man has been running on empty for a long time, and the ‘Venom’ franchise should go out now on what passes for probably the highest note it’ll ever hit. Let it be the last dance indeed.
‘Venom: The Last Dance’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.
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What is the plot of ‘Venom: The Last Dance’?
Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his alien symbiote Venom are on the run – not just from government authorities and law enforcement, but from Venom’s creator, the powerful entity known as Knull.
Who is in the cast of ‘Venom: The Last Dance’?
Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom
Chiwetel Ejiofor as General Rex Strickland
Juno Temple as Dr. Payne
Rhys Ifans as Martin
Peggy Lu as Mrs. Chen
Stephen Graham as Patrick Mulligan/Toxin
Venom in Columbia Pictures ‘Venom: The Last Dance’. Photo: Sony Pictures.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Tom Hardy will appear in ‘Blood on Snow’.
It adapts Jo Nesbø’s 2015 novel.
‘Beasts of No Nation’s Cary Joji Fukunaga is in the director’s chair.
Novelist Jo Nesbø’s work has been a frequent source for movies and TV series during the last decade in particular. But even when utilizing his particular blend of frosty climes and dangerous crimes, the results haven’t always worked out the way the filmmakers intended –– witness the misfiring 2017 adaptation of serial killer thriller ‘The Snowman’.
The ‘Blood on Snow’ narrative is set in 1970’s Oslo, where two rival gang leaders — Hoffman and the Fisherman (Hardy) —vie for control.
Hoffman’s trusted hitman, Olav (Johnson), is a cold, efficient killer, perfect for the job. But beneath his ruthless exterior lies an unexpected intelligence and an unwavering moral code shaped by a complicated childhood.
When Hoffman orders his own wife to be murdered, Olav’s principles clash with his loyalties. Instead of pulling the trigger, he hatches a scheme that makes him Hoffman’s next target and with nowhere safe to turn, Olav forms an uneasy alliance that places him at the heart of Oslo’s deadly gang war.
Once a violent enforcer, Olav’s choice makes him an unlikely hero in a world where no good deed goes unpunished…
Who else is working on the movie?
Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff / Kraven the Hunter in ‘Kraven the Hunter.’
While Nesbø does write a fair amount of other projects (see below), he’s not usually found adapting his own books. Yet ‘Blood on Snow’ will see him doing exactly that, working alongside Ben Power to bring the novel’s story to screens.
Hardy will also produce the movie via his company, Hardy Son & Baker, WME Independent and Range handling sales of the title at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival market, where it’s expected to be snapped up quickly given the talent involved.
Taylor-Johnson, last seen in ‘The Fall Guy,’ steps up to lead Sony’s latest stab at a Marvel movie, starring in ‘Kraven the Hunter,’ which is due in theaters on December 13th. And before that, Hardy will be back in that Sony universe for ‘Venom: The Last Dance,’ which lands on October 25th.
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What other Nesbø adaptations are in the works?
There are a few Nesbø productions at different stages right now. The writer himself has created a new TV series based on his Harry Hole books, and that’s filming at the moment. He’s also written a series called ‘So Long, Marianne,’ which is in post-production.
On the movie side, his short story ‘The Jealousy Man’ was adapted into a film called ‘Killer Heat’ and there are several other projects either written by him or based on his work in different stages of development.
The third ‘Venom’ Movie’s title is ‘Venom: The Last Dance’
Tom Hardy is back to star, with co-writer Kelly Marcel directing.
This new film will now be released in October.
Things are changing for the third movie in the successful (though seemingly despite itself) ‘Venom’ franchise –– and for once in the increasingly beleaguered superhero genre, it’s more in a positive direction. Not only has the film been moved forward in terms of its release, but we now know it’ll be called ‘Venom 3: The Last Dance’.
‘Venom’ has proved to be one of the few bright spots of Sony’s Marvel-adjacent Spider-Man universe. While they have never been the biggest hit among critics, the Tom Hardy-starring movies have certainly scored with audiences, as the box office figures have shown.
So what can we speculate based on that title? ‘The Last Dance’ suggests the end of the story for now, but also the potential for a musical element. Given the bizarre partnership of man and symbiote that are a key point of the movies, we could certainly posit a crazed musical sequence.
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What’s the story of ‘Venom’ so far?
Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and Venom in 2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage.’
Launching in 2018 with the first movie, ‘Venom’ sees Hardy as Eddie Brock, an investigative journalist struggling to keep his career afloat and hang on to his crumbling social life.
His world is already falling apart before he’s accidentally infected with the alien symbiote, which takes over his body and causes him to become a violent creature that is only too happy to eat people.
Eddie eventually forges an unlikely partnership with the creature that shares his body, and they end up fighting evil (and occasionally, yes, still eating people) together.
Though the original ‘Venom’, directed by ‘Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer, scored some awful reviews, it was a big box office hit, earning more than $850 million dollars.
Naturally, Sony commissioned a sequel, which saw Kelly Marcel, a long-time friend/collaborator of Hardy working together with the actor to write the script (they’d taken over from previous writers Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg on the first movie, sharing credit that time).
2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ saw actor-turned-director Andy Serkis taking over the director’s chair, with Eddie and Venom facing off against violent, psychopathic serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson), who merges with another symbiote and becomes the terrifying monster known as Carnage.
It was another blend of less-than-enthusiastic reviews but still healthy box office, ending up with a little over $500 million.
Who is making ‘Venom 3: The Last Dance’?
(L to R) Director Andy Serkis and Tom Hardy on the set of 2021’s ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage.’
Even with the latest title news, there are few plot details available for the new movie. We can expect some of the usual hand (tentacle?) wringing about whether he’s an antihero or a slavering, sarcastic alien beast, and probably some of the comedy for which the franchise has been known so far.
For the third, Marcel has stepped up to direct, which might seem like a daunting task, but we’ll wait and see how it works out. Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Clark Backo are all among the cast joining Hardy on screen this time.
Venom, created by writer Bill Michelinie and artist Todd McFarlane, was famously introduced as a villain in 1988’s ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ No. 300, and quickly became a fan-favorite as well as one of his arch-nemeses. He got his first solo comic in 1993.
