Venom Director Says Tom Hardy Gives A Tour De Force Performance

On paper, Eddie Brock and Venom are two very different characters.

One’s a mild-mannered reporter with slight anger issues, while the other’s an unhinged anti-hero that’s best described as an inky blank demon with pointy teeth. And yet, for Sony and Ruben Fleischer’s upcoming movie, Tom Hardy will be lending his voice to the alien symbiote, all the while headlining the spinoff pic as Eddie Brock.

He’s pulling double duty, essentially, which ought to draw comparisons to the actor’s dual performance in British crime drama, Legend. This time around, Hardy’s delving deep into comic book territory – not for the first time, mind you, given he brought a palpable sense of dread and menace to The Dark Knight Rises – and the result is a “tour-de-force performance,” according to director Ruben Fleischer:

Tom’s just so incredibly entertaining to watch. Duality is clearly something that fascinates him, so when you watch the way he’s acting opposite himself, it’s really impressive; just how he’s able to conjure an entirely separate version of himself as the symbiote. It’s a tour de force performance.

Those comments were made to Empire Magazine (h/t CBM), after the outlet caught up with Fleischer to discuss Venom, Eddie Brock and the current status of Zombieland 2. Rumors of a Peter Parker cameo were also presented to the director, though he refused to be drawn on Spidey’s role – or lack thereof – in this embryonic universe.

Sony’s Venom will be unleashed upon the moviegoing masses on October 5th, at which point we’ll begin to see the fruits of its own Marvel Universe. Other projects include Silver & Black, Nightwatch, and Morbius, the Living Vampire.