There are a lot of things about the movie version of Venom which diverge from his comic book origins. However, the filmmakers were under no illusions that the look of the character on screen had to be right. In an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip that will be part of the upcoming Blu-ray release of Venom, the filmmakers talk about how the different ways Venom has been portrayed over the years influenced the look for the new movie. Check it out.
Venom is one of the most popular comic book villains/anti-heroes ever. With the character being first created as a dark opposite of Spider-Man, the character borrowed some of the wall-crawler's attributes, but in a menacing and inhuman way. As such, he's become a very visually interesting character and in this behind-the-scenes clip we see several on the production, including director Ruben Fleischer, discussing how the movie wanted to be sure to pay homage to the iconic design from the comics.
Creating the look of a character for a movie that has already been drawn in comics for years might seem to be quite easy, but the film's producer points out that Venom hasn't really had a single look over the years. As different artists have taken on the character Venom has been given a number of different looks. This, combined with the fact that the alien symbiote itself has some ability to manipulate its own look, means that there isn't necessarily one way to make Venom look.
On the one hand, this added some potential pitfalls in trying to figure out how to design the creature, but at the same time, it gave the film some freedom to work, to create the version of Venom that worked for the movie while still being sure to make one that was true to the origins of the character.
In the end, the key was making sure the most iconic parts of the character came through. This meant getting the black symbiote face and the white eyes to play off each other in that unique way they do while making sure the violent mouth full of teeth was also there. That part certainly came through.
The movie version of Venom did have to do without what is possibly the most recognizable element of the character, the giant white spider logo that is usually found on Venom's chest. That aspect existed because of the character's origins in Spider-Man comics, however, since the film version was born an entirely different way, it wouldn't have made sense to include that.
Still, it's clear that the comics were always important to Venom 's production, so that fans would see the Venom on the big screen just the way they always wanted. Based on the film's incredible box office take, it appears the effort was successful. The odds that this won't be Venom's only time on screen are extremely high.
Venom will be released on Digital December 11 and 4K, Blu-ray and DVD December 18.
