Andy Serkis wins bid to direct Venom 2 for Sony Pictures
The veteran motion-capture performer Andy Serkis will be taking the reins for the second Venom movie.
Andy Serkis, the brilliantly esteemed actor and emerging filmmaker, better known for his captivating motion-capture performances as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise and King Kong in the 2005 remake, will direct the sequel to Venom.
Announced by The Hollywood Reporter, Serkis won out against contenders Travis Knight, the son of Nike founder Phil Knight, and fellow British filmmaker, Rupert Wyatt, who ironically was responsible for the revival of the Planet of the Apes franchise post-2011. Although he had only helmed two projects as director (with Breathe being the better received of them), it seemed he was ultimately the one they were looking for.
The director of the original 2018 film, Ruben Fleischer, is no longer involved with Venom 2 as he is currently busy working on Zombieland: Double Tap for Sony.
Serkis is undoubtedly a great addition to the eponymous symbiotic anti-hero’s new instalment as he clearly has a proven track record under his belt with the Andrew Garfield-headlining biopic, Breathe, and the exclusive Netflix adventure, Mowgli.
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Kelly Marcel has returned to pen the script and is executive producing Venom 2. Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Williams will reprise their roles in the sequel and it is set for release October 2, 2020.
It will be interesting to see what Serkis is capable of doing in the director’s chair, especially when you consider how his experience of mo-cap could benefit a film like this.
Harrelson, having already appeared in the post-credits scene in the first film, is undoubtedly playing Cletus Kasady/Carnage in the sequel. Thus, Serkis’ mo-cap experience will hopefully bring out the best in both his and Tom Hardy’s characters.
Morbius, the second instalment in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC) is set to follow where Venom began, and will star Jared Leto, Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson. The dark superhero film, written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless and directed by Daniel Espinosa, wrapped production in June 2019 and will debut in July 2020.
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Are you excited that Andy Serkis is directing Venom 2? What are you hoping to see from the sequel? Let us know in the comments below!