First Draft Script For ‘Venom’ Handed To Sony
A scene with Venom from Spiderman 3
Paul Wernick (Zombieland / Earth vs Moon / Invasion Iowa) and Rhett Reese (Zombieland / Earth vs Moon / Cruel Intentions 3) are the writers hired by Sony to produce the screenplay for the Spiderman spinoff movie, Venom – and they’ve already completed a draft.
“Venom is something that we’re very fired up to be writing,” Reese said. “We have turned in a draft and are waiting to hear back, so it’s early in the process. But it’s a thrill to be writing Venom for obvious reasons.”
What do they have to say about the details of their new project?
“We’re under strict orders on Venom,” Wernick replied. “We can’t talk about it. It’s just super secret.”
When asked if they were scared of the monumental expectations surrounding the project, in a reply respectful to fans Reese said, “Absolutely. It’s terrifying. It’s source material that everyone knows and everybody’s familiar with, and everybody loves. And so there’s a burden on you to meet the expectations of people.”
Venom is an alien symbiote capable of merging with virtually anyone. The Venom symbiote originally merged with Spiderman in Marvel Comics Secret Wars Issue 8, and then with Eddie Brock in The Amazing Spiderman Issue 298. In Spiderman 3 the character of Eddie Brock was played by Topher Grace, however it remains to be seen if Grace will reprise his role for the spinoff, or just how many elements from Spiderman 3 will carry over into the new movie.
Topher Grace as Venom in Spiderman 3
“Obviously, with a character like Venom there’s a ton of stuff to draw from,” Reese stated to ComingSoon.net. “Then they had specific rules about the villain and the backstory and stuff like that, so there were certain things they wanted us… certain parameters they gave us. But largely we pitched them something and they liked it but they had changes, so we worked on the outline for a long time and then we wrote the script. So with Marvel and Sony and us it’s definitely very, very collaborative.”
Many fans voiced their dissatisfaction with the way in which Venom was presented in Spiderman 3, which in turn has led to concerns over what a spinoff movie may offer, and whether or not it can do the character of Venom justice. The good news is both Reese and Wernick are fans of the character, honest enough to know their limitations, and open enough to do their research in order to meet expectations:
“We read Venom growing up, but we were not experts,” Reese said. “We certainly know the mythology of Venom, but went back and learned more when it became clear that we could actually get this job.”
Venom is anticipated to hit theaters sometime in 2012.
Sources: Sci Fi Wire / Coming Soon / First Showing
