Todd McFarlane, creator of Venom, talks spin-offs.
Todd McFarlane, who along with fellow artist Mike Zeck and writer David Michelinie created Venom for the Amazing Spider-Man comics, has been speaking about the villain possibly getting his own movie.
McFarlane, speaking to reporters said,
“He should be creepier than he was in Spider-Man 3. You don’t want to scare the kids, because the kids love the character, but I think you could add a little bit of a creep factor. I mean, it never bugged me to watch Frankenstein as a kid, so you could have a little bit of it, as long as you have a good story backing it up.”
The artist is unsure of the merits of spin-off movies: “I’m thinking about how they want to make anti-heroes nowadays,” he said, citing Halle Berry’s disastrous turn in Catwoman as an example. “Those don’t work. The reason they’re so cool as a bad guy is because they’re bad. And as soon as you try to give too much humanity to them, then you go, ‘No! Now they’re not as good as a bad guy because you’re trying to redeem them’.”
Sony recently commissioned a draft of the Venom script from Jacob Estes (Mean Creek), but they are now considering going in a different direction from Estes’ script and is seeking writers for a new draft.
Topher Grace played Venom in Spider-Man 3, but agents have been eyeing the role for their clients, as the studio is not yet convinced the actor can carry a tentpole picture.
Spider-man 4 is expected in cinemas in 2011.