Andy Serkis may be replacing Ruben Fleischer as the director of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, but the sequel features one behind-the-scenes holdover from the original film: Maryann Brandon, who co-edited Venom in 2018 and recently cut together the latest chapter in Sony’s symbiote saga. Having worked with both Serkis and Fleischer, Brandon was granted a keen insight into each director’s creative process. And while speaking with SYFY Wire, she explained what Serkis brought to the table in the sequel.
Brandon revealed that she purposely didn’t do her homework on Venom’s comic appearances in order to tailor the film for a wider audience than just traditional Marvel fans. Regardless, she promised that Let There Be Carnage is going to be “really good fun” thanks to the oscreen dynamic between Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady/Carnage. Brandon also praised Serkis for striking a tone between camp and horror.
“They’re hugely different filmmakers,” said Brandon. “Venom’s a tricky film because you like Venom, but he’s scary. You’re always on the edge of like…you don’t want it to be campy, but you want to like him. And you don’t want to be too scared and you can’t be too horrific with it. Venom’s kind of a horrific character, isn’t it? Which is why Tom Hardy’s brilliant because he manages to do that, [and] Andy Serkis is great at this stuff.”
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Originally, Brandon was too busy working on the most recent Star Wars movie to return for Let There Be Carnage. But once the pandemic hit, she managed to free up some time in her schedule. Unfortunately, it sounds like this cost her some face time with Serkis.
“I was just brought in when COVID hit,” recalled Brandon. “Sony had asked me to do it and I was like, ‘Look, I can’t, I’m doing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and I’m exhausted … I can’t.’ And they were like, ‘Ok, ok.’ Then they hammered me, they wouldn’t leave me alone, and then COVID hit and they were like, ‘Will you help us now?’ So I wasn’t around for any of the shooting or the first cut. I came in and rejiggered a bunch of stuff. So I didn’t work as closely with Andy Serkis as I did with Ruben.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage hits theaters on October 1.
Are you looking forward to seeing Brandon’s work on the sequel? Let us know in the comment section below!
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