There was a big push this week for Andy Serkis to take on the role of director for Venom 2. Tom Hardy appeared to endorse Serkis, who is directing Netflix’s Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, via Serkis’ Instagram account, which he quickly removed.
Serkis is said to be in the running to direct Sony Pictures’ Marvel sequel, with Variery reporting that the Spider-Man spinoff has Serkis, Bumblebee’s Travis Knight and Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ Rupert Wyatt in the running to direct.
Hardy’s Instagram post has since been deleted, presumably because negotiations are still ongoing, but it’s still a sign that he supports the British actor and director for the job.
Tom Hardy’s Instagram post supporting Andy Serkis (Courtesy of Instagram)
The original film seemed to set up a showdown between Venom and Carnage thanks to a last-minute cameo from Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady, so we can expect the second movie to be CGI-heavy (after all, the less we see of Harrelson’s ridiculous red wig in the movie, the better).
Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasady in Venom (Photo credit: Sony)
Serkis is obviously a master of CGI acting, but he’s had a mixed record as a director: His debut, Breathe, was well-received but grossed just a third of its original budget at the box office.
His next directorial effort is a 30-minute performance poem by Akala made for the BBC, and finally there’s Mowgli, which was made for Warner Bros with a theatrical release in mind and then landed on Netflix.
So it’s fair to say Venom 2 needs him as much as Serkis needs it. Despite negative reviews, the original was a box office hit, and if Serkis can improve those reviews and maintain the first film’s box office success, it could be a stepping stone to the directorial career he clearly craves.
Andy Serkis (left) and Tom Hardy attend the English National Ballet’s The Nutcracker Pre-Party on December 15, 2010. (Photo by Dave M. Bennett/Getty Images)
And he could bring some deeper themes to the series.
“It’s interesting how big movies become evangelists for intellectual debate,” Serkis said. “Not the smaller, blockbuster films that speak passionately about an issue, but these epic pieces of entertainment that really resonate with people.”
Venom sequel officially in the works
While we’re not expecting Venom 2 to be the follow-up to Serkis’s fantastic performance in Black Panther, it would be nice to see some real-world themes mixed into a story about two computer-generated alien symbiotes clashing with one another.
Read more: Serkis reveals that Hardy’s Venom is a performance-capture role
Oh, and not only did Serkis work alongside Woody Harrelson in another big thematic blockbuster, War for the Planet of the Apes, he also has a connection to the first Venom movie, using Tom Hardy as an example of why awards bodies need to start celebrating roles that demonstrate acting merit.
Give him a job already!
Venom 2 is currently scheduled for release in the UK on October 2, 2020.