Aside from each successive trailer for Venom looking even more badass than the one to have preceded it, one thing about the film that’s reassured my confidence in the final product is that of Tom Hardy’s casting. In my view, he always brings something special to his performances, and I still feel his turn as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was one of the best things about that particular movie.
Conversely, I was one among many who had misgivings regarding Topher Grace being hired to play Eddie Brock over a decade ago in Spider-Man 3. Though I loved him on That 70’s Show, it was quite difficult picturing him as the iconic villain (or anti-hero, depending on how he’s portrayed). Ultimately, the concluding chapter in Sam Raimi’s trilogy fell flat for a number of reasons, so it’s unfair to pin everything on a single actor.
Having fun with these markedly different versions of the character is YouTuber Darth Blender, who’s done a fine job of cutting together a Venom trailer utilizing footage of Grace taken from the aforementioned Spider-Man 3 and some scenes from Raimi’s other two offerings to smooth out some edges.
As you can see, some of the lip syncing is less than perfect, but the editing is on point for the most part. To make it contemporary, audio from one of the trailers promoting Hardy’s film was used, so you don’t have to worry about reliving atrocious dialogue such as “I like being bad. It makes me happy.”
Oddly enough, Grace himself was also perplexed by Sony’s decision to hire him as Brock, which he admitted in a recent interview:
“I was a huge fan of the character of Venom when I was a kid when Todd McFarlane brought him into the comic. I was a huge fan of it. And I was surprised and a little bit like ‘Huh?’ when they wanted me to play it. So when I look at it now, at the movie that’s coming out, I go ‘That’s the guy.’ In terms of how I think the guy should be played and who should play it.”
Venom – starring Tom Hardy, mind you – opens in theaters on October 5th.
