Aaron Taylor-Johnson says he wouldn’t have signed on to play Kraven the Hunter if “there wasn’t something to really bring to life with this character.”
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Taylor-Johnson touched on what drew him to the character of Kraven the Hunter and why he ultimately agreed to star in the upcoming movie set within Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
“I think there was something unique about this character, and something grounded,” he said. “We’ve all had enough of seeing certain studio films, a certain kind of pop culture… where they’re churning out stuff that dilutes wanting to go to the cinema. I wouldn’t have signed onto it if I felt there wasn’t something to really bring to life with this character.”
Taylor-Johnson said reading Kraven’s Last Hunt, the comic storyline by J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck, factored into his reasoning, as well as the movie’s R-rating.
“You just think, ‘What the f*** have I just read?’ That’s the kind of character I’m playing,” he said. “But then, a lot of the people who grew up with Marvel are old enough now to watch an R-rated movie.”
Aaron Taylor-Johnson discusses the challenges of making a Sony/Marvel movie
He added, “Taking on a Sony/Marvel movie is a different challenge altogether. There’s the story, the character, the role; that’s one thing. But then you also step into a world where you’re dealing with a studio and a franchise — or possible franchises, though let’s not get ahead of ourselves. So, they’re rolling the dice on me, in a sense, which is a lovely thing. But you’ve got to appease the studio, please the audience and do what’s dignified for you as an actor. I find all of that super challenging.”
Along with Taylor-Johnson, Kraven the Hunter stars Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Fred Hechinger as Dmitri Smerdyakov/Chameleon, Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner, Alessandro Nivola as Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino, Russell Crowe as Nikolai Kravinoff, and Levi Miller in an undisclosed role.
Directed by J. C. Chandor, Kraven the Hunter releases in United States theaters on August 30, 2024.
