2 Attachment(s)
Topher Grace Can't Wait To See Tom Hardy's Venom Movie
Topher Grace is excited to see Tom Hardy’s take on Venom after he played a version of the character in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. While many fans hold Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 in high regard for its mix of great characters and action sequences, Spider-Man 3 was considered a major letdown. Raimi himself has since admitted the movie didn’t work, and while he wanted to make another movie to bring the series back to form, he eventually walked away from a planned fourth movie. The franchise was instead rebooted with The Amazing Spider-Man.
Raimi has also admitted that while he had relative creative control on the second movie, with Spider-Man 3 he was forced by the studio and producers to include certain elements. This included making Venom a key villain, despite Raimi’s noted distaste for the character. Topher Grace was thus cast as rival reporter Eddie Brock who eventually transforms into Venom, but the character’s lackluster treatment in the finale just served to make fans of the character angry.
Tom Hardy’s Venom movie will be the first big screen appearance by the character since Spider-Man 3 and promises to be a much darker take. Grace himself remains a big fan of the character and told Inverse (via JoBlo) in a new interview that he’s just as excited about Tom Hardy’s take as everyone else.
To me — I truly mean this — I think Tom is the guy to play that role. I’m thrilled to watch it as a fan. I really mean that. I think he’s just the best dude.
Grace also reflected on how Raimi chose to portray the character, and how he’s keen to see a more traditional portrayal of Venom.
I understand Sam’s interpretation, which was to do a dark version of Tobey [Maguire]’s character. I was thrilled because I was such a fan of the character, but I was aware of how it was different from what I had grown up reading. I thought it was cool, but I’m really excited to see [Tom Hardy’s version]. That’s the character I grew up with.
The actor’s gracious - pun somewhat intended - passing of the Venom torch to Hardy is nice to see, as is his genuine excitement to see the character portrayed as he should be. Raimi has stated many times he just didn’t get the appeal of the character, and while he tried his best to make him part of the story, it was clear his heart wasn’t in it. Venom was actually earmarked for a spinoff following Spider-Man 3 - which a screenplay penned by Deadpool’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick – but the negative reaction to his appearance in Raimi's threequel halted those plans.
While the initial teaser for Venom was met with a muted response, recent previews have gotten fans stoked for the movie. It promises to be an action-packed hybrid between a comic book movie and a horror flick, and one that won’t sand off the harsher edges of the material.
Release Date:
. Venom (2018) release date: Oct 05, 2018
