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Ive read that you started collaborating on the script for the sequel over FaceTime with Tom.
What was that process like?
As soon as we knew we were definitely makingVenom 2, we started working together on FaceTime.
That was what would make us giggle.
Tom has an amazingly creatively agile brain, so he can spitball ideas for hours.
There was a lot of that, a lot of laughing.
Was that an intentional reference?
Its likeThe Seven Year Itch.They realize theyre better together.
They drive each other crazy, as roommates often do.
I think that probably happens a lot in the pandemic as well, so its quite timely.
Theyre locked inside and they cant go out.
So I guess it does follow that rom-com model.
When youre spitballing, do you talk in terms of specific films you want to reference?
It runs the gamut of every film ever made.
We knew that the tone that had worked for the first movie was comedy mixed with horror.
So youre spitballing horror ideas at the same time youre talking about rom-com ideas.
So its very much on purpose.
Cletus also has this relationship with Shriek, played by Naomie Harris.
So we brought her in first and then built the world around that love story.
In actuality, Venom and Eddie work much better than that threesome.
How did you decide on the rules of how Eddie and Venoms symbiosis would work?
For instance, in this movie theyve settled on Venom surviving through eating chicken brains and chocolate.
So it was just very handy that we had her and had a supply of chocolate.
Its great when she gets to be Venom.
She was so excited!
The movies will occasionally reference the dynamics of symbiote existence off in space.
How much do you get involved in the world-building and imagining what that existence is like?
The billions of light years of knowledge is also true.
But in the way we play Venom, we carefully said that hes basically a janitor on his planet.
He doesnt necessarily have the billions of light years of knowledge.
We can have him behave the way he behaves, which is like a pouting toddler.
How do you approach writing the dialogue between Eddie and Venom?
Ive heard there is a lot of improvisation involved.
It goes in stages.
We hash out the idea together and outline the film.
Then the dialogue is me.
I take the script and go away and write all the words.
Hell just keep going through the scene.
Were there particular lines or scenes that were particularly influenced by that?
Theres probably lines in every single scene, to be honest.
We throw lines in that could be fun to keep in but sometimes dont make it.
But what were you thinking about approaching that scene?
Everybody needs love all sentient creatures.
We wanted him in a celebration so we could see him be free.
Look, theres always lines that have secondary meanings in these movies.
We wanted to address some stuff in a fun way in that scene.
Those words felt like the right words for Venom at that time.
Weve always said its actually Venom thats completely obsessed with Anne.
Eddie knows it cant work.
How would they all be together with an alien in his body?
Its not to say that he doesnt love Anne, but he loves himself more.
Hes a selfish dude who just wants to write his novel and win a prize.
But Venom genuinely cares for Anne.
She has that in Dan [Reid Scott], who I really do love.
We love messing with Reid.
We were always walking that strange tonal line between rom-com and also out and out scary stuff.
Literally people didnt know what to make of that.
It was like, what are they doing?
Which is what we are doing!
That Im sorry about Venom does take from the sweeter rom-com side of the coin.
Its like shes onInside the Actors Studio.
She always knows hes there!
How much did you have to coordinate with the people running that whole enterprise in writing the scene?
Ill write it, everybody will read it, they will have their notes, and Ill rewrite it.
But the scene and the writing came from the Venom-verse.
Its really bonkers, trying to do all that stuff and keep it secret.
