Venom is such a great character, it will be fun to see who he tangles with along the way.
— Ruben Fleischer
I feel like there's a true spirit of individuality in Portland that's inherent to the place.
I think we can all agree it would be pretty amazing to see Spider-Man and Venom face off in a film.
I have a music-video background, and I feel like the responsibility of a music-video director is to do something that hasn't been done before in a really cool visual way. So much innovation has come in filmmaking through music videos.
The trickiest thing is that a lot of times in 'Venom' comics, they'll reveal part of Eddie, and he'll be like a Venom body with an Eddie head, or he'll do that classic split frame face.
I'm a huge fan of comic books movies and comics, and so for me it was a real dream to get to make a movie in this world, and certainly to get to make a movie with Venom as its titular character.
‘The Dark Knight' does such a great job of delivering an intense, action-packed film that didn't pull any punches.
I definitely never intended to do a zombie movie.
Some time after 'Gangster Squad,' after I'd made a couple other movies, I was like, 'In retrospect that 'Zombieland' experience was about as good as it can get, both between the cast and the world of the movie and the way it was received.' I was like, 'We should probably do another 'Zombieland.'
He's an American treasure, I would be honored to fight Tom Hanks.
Yeah, I feel lucky to have the opportunity to try different things.
As far as 'Venom,' we took some license with this because I don't think we know a lot about him from his days on planet Klyntar in the comic. But in our movie we thought maybe he could also be somebody who's a little bit of a loser, a loner, and doesn't love being subordinate.
The mass of Venom. I mean, he's like a big, foreboding, physical presence. Actually, let me correct myself - the eyes, the tongue, the mouth, those are his most distinguishing traits, and so making those look as photoreal and true to the comics as we possibly could was super important to me.
It's like somehow my favorite filmmakers, you know, bounce between genres. Like if you look at a career of somebody like Soderbergh or Danny Boyle or the Coen's. I mean, it goes - there's no real through line other than just their style, but the type of genre or the type of subject matter seems to go all over.
I think Jack Nicholson in 'Chinatown' is a very funny character, but I would never call that a comedy.
And my idols in music videos are people like Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze and Johnathan Glazer and David Fincher and that's always kind of been my reference point in music video and commercial directors.
Zombie purists don't even call our zombies zombies, because to be a zombie you have to be undead. That's something zombie purists can fight about for years and years to come.
There is more than enough 'Venom' to go around. Venom is a really huge character, and Hardy is an amazing actor, so there is plenty to mine just from Tom's performance, the character and the world he inhabits.
I've always been drawn to the more antihero superheroes.
We're definitely planning a huge world with this 'Venom' story, and we want to be able to satisfy our own desires and the desires of our fans to explore all of the beloved characters from the universe.
I've always been fascinated by history.
I read pretty much every 'Venom' comic that exists.
I think sometimes when things have too much time to develop you overthink it and you start making changes that aren't necessary.
We didn't want to make a movie that excluded any fans. 'Venom' fans actually are of all ages, and so we wanted to be inclusive to all the fans that were excited about the movie.
When I started trying to become a director, I started shooting low budget short films, 50-dollar music videos, making my own stuff. That eventually led to commercials.
What's great about 'Spy Hunter' is that we have an amazing title, an awesome car, and a great theme song, and we can use that to launch a new franchise that hopefully will compete with the other ones but just be kind of the more fun, video game version of a spy movie.
I get really excited thinking about being in the world without a lot of people.
My first time out of the gate, I made three movies in four years, and they were all very back to back to back.
You know, duality has always been a strong theme throughout 'Venom'-focused stories, whether it's in the comics or in movies, and that's something I think that Tom Hardy's played with in a lot of his work.
As a comic book fan, I've seen all the comic book movies.
Some of the greatest movies of all time are within this genre, 'The Godfather,' and 'Goodfellas,' and 'Untouchables' and there's just so many classic gangster movies that I was always such a fan of.
I was working in commercials and music videos, always with the goal of working in feature films.
Traditionally in zombie movies, one of the main characters dies.
I think any opportunity you can to employ some visual technique, go for it.
Sometimes in L.A., we get accused of being superficial. I feel like Portland's the opposite, in that there's a greater depth of character, and sense of self.
Zombies are kind of a perennial.
My first job in Hollywood was as a PA in the writers room of 'Dawson's Creek,' and from that early experience on, I've always had an intense appreciation for the energy, creativity and process of making television.
I've always loved the genre of gangster films.
You know, the comedic and horror thing was the key to 'Zombieland,' which is a comedy first.
It's tough to make a sequel that stands up to the original especially one that has, over the course of time, become a bit of a cult favorite.
I work really hard and have rolled up my sleeves for a long time to get the opportunities I've had.
I started out as an assistant to a director on two movies, Miguel Arteta. The movies I worked on were 'Chuck and Buck' and 'The Good Girl.' I didn't even know I wanted to be a director until I started working with Miguel.
I love 'Bond' movies, I love spy movies.
Yeah, I love 'Boardwalk Empire.'
Venom,' we worked all the way up until the release. It was one of the latest things you could possibly push the schedule to. We actually finished it two weeks before it had to go everywhere throughout the world.
I guess as a long time fan of 'Venom,' as soon as I heard they were making a standalone movie I got really excited at the prospect of being involved.
Venom' is a standalone character who has so much attitude, menace and ferocity. He's also really funny in the comics and in our movie. He's a really compelling guy that can completely stand on his own. When he's played by Tom Hardy, and Eddie Brock is his partner, that relationship is enough for one movie.
I basically went from finishing 'Venom.' I had a week off with my family. And then went straight into prep on 'Zombieland 2.'
If you've loved a girl your entire life and you've been afraid to tell her, don't wait because you never know what might happen.
I love TV.
