Most of you know Any Serkis best for his acting work, whether his face is seen, like playing Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or he’s delivering a motion capture performance, like playing Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy. But Serkis also has some directing experience under his belt, and word’s come in that he’s now being looked at to helm Venom 2.
Rather than being approached for a starring role in Venom 2, The Hollywood Reporter has heard that Andy Serkis is under consideration to sit in the director’s chair for the sequel. Serkis reportedly flew to Los Angeles earlier this week to meet with “Sony brass” about Venom 2. Ruben Fleischer directed last year’s Venom, but he’s not returning for the sequel due to being busy with Zombieland: Double Tap, another Sony production.
After serving as the second unit director on The Hobbit movies, Andy Serkis made his directorial debut with 2017’s Breathe, and he followed that up with Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. It’s safe to say that if he got the Venom 2 directing job, it would be his highest profile project yet.
It’s important to note, though, that Andy Serkis isn’t the only director currently in consideration for Venom 2. Variety reports that Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt and Bumblebee’s Travis Knight have also talked with Sony. None of these three men have moved into a “front-runner position” yet, although Serkis is certainly the one most well known to the general public.
Whoever ends up directing Venom 2, Sony isn’t wasting any time moving forward with the project. The goal is to begin filming this November, leaving just four months to pick a director and get the main cast assembled.
After years spent in development hell, Venom finally got off the ground in October 2017 and came out a year later. Like in the comics, it saw Eddie Brock bonding with an alien symbiote and gaining superpowers… and a taste for bad guy flesh. Unlike in the comics, Spider-Man didn’t factor into his origin whatsoever, and it’s unclear if Tom Hardy’s Venom will ever clash with the Web-Slinger.
While Venom earned mostly negative reviews from professional critics, it fared much better among general audiences. Commercially, it performed excellently, making $856 million worldwide, leading to Sony officially announcing Venom 2 in January.
In the Venom mid-credits scene, Eddie Brock met with incarcerated serial killer Cletus Kasady, better known in the comics as Carnage. Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson will reprise Brock and Kasady, respectively, in Venom 2, and Michelle Williams will also be back as Ann Weying. Kelly Marcel is writing the sequel’s script and executive producing.
Venom 2 is expected to hit theaters on October 2, 2020, just three months after fellow Sony Marvel release Morbius. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates, and plan your trips to the theater for the rest of the year with our 2019 release schedule.
