- Guys, welcome to our  MTV set here at Comic-Con.
  It's good to see you both.
  - We're so excited to be here, thank you.
  - I'm thrilled to have  you guys because this one
  has been at or near the top  of my list of must see films.
  It's a project with a  lot of attention on it.
  It's a property that people love,
  a character we've been waiting to see
  portrayed in this way on the big screen.
  Just talk to me about I guess,
  the attention that has  been on this property,
  and does it feel like this is kind of like
  the moment where you get to see the fans,
  and see how they're going to react?
  Is it a moment you've  been looking forward to?
  - Yeah, absolutely.
  I mean there's no better place than here
  to kind of birth the movie if you would,
  like we've been working on it for so long,
  and been working so hard,
  and have created something I think
  we're very, very proud of.
  This is who we've made it for.
  This is the audience that we are
  excited to see the footage  that we're gonna present,
  and that's why we made the film,
  because we're passionate about  the character and the world,
  and to get to bring it to the  audience that loves it most,
  and to present it  couldn't be more exciting.
  - Riz, are you the audience out there
  as well as a participant in this film?
  Would you be as psyched  about a Venom film?
  - Yeah, absolutely, and I think for me,
  the thing that sets this film apart,
  and the thing that would make me
  a massive fan of this  film if I wasn't in it,
  is it just feels a little dark.
  It's just set itself apart a little bit.
  Venom is normally an anti-hero,
  and to have an anti-hero  in the lead in that way,
  I think it just differentiates it
  in a really important and enticing way
  from the other superhero movies out there,
  because there are so many
  that you have to come up  with something different.
  I think that's something  that Ruben is able to do,
  he's so good at walking that fine line
  between walking that darker tone
  and that comic tone, so yeah.
  - So yeah, let's talk a  little bit about that,
  because you're getting at  something that's interesting,
  and I think when this  project was announced,
  and the casting started to be announced,
  everybody really perked up,
  because when you get  someone like Tom Hardy,
  who just goes all out  in every role he does,
  and then you add folks  like Michelle and Riz,
  and this amazing ensemble.
  Tell me what you were  going for in terms of,
  what's the cast of characters  you're trying to establish?
  What's the vibe you're trying
  to establish in this collection?
  - Yeah, absolutely.
  I mean, the Eddie Brock Venom dynamic
  is unique within the comics  because most of the times,
  the superhero is one person.
  He might be a person  who gets bit by a spider
  and imbued with powers.
  Another version is he  comes from outer space,
  and he becomes an alien on our planet
  and he has super powers.
  This is completely unique
  because it's about the relationship
  between two different wholes becoming one.
  So there's Eddie Brock  and then the symbiote,
  and they unite to form Venom.
  And so that's just a  distinctive relationship
  within the whole comic book canon.
  And to cast somebody like Tom Hardy,
  who brings so much complexity and interest
  and menace to everything that he's done,
  to play that unique dynamic,
  and especially in something tonally darker
  like this movie,
  where you have a vicious,  violent, brain-eating alien.
  To have Tom Hardy occupy those roles
  and to bring so much  complexity to that duality,
  that Jekyll and Hyde relationship,
  it just elevates it to  a whole other level.
  And then when you add  to it people like Riz,
  who I've been a huge fan of for so long,
  Michelle, who I've been...
  Little known fact is I worked  on Dawson's Creek as a PA,
  that was my first ever job in Hollywood.
  So to get to bring it full circle,
  20 years later, and get to work with her
  in this capacity is really amazing.
  And yeah, it's just been a dream come true
  every step of the way.
  - Yeah, there's been some talk that
  if there is source material  you guys are leaning on,
  it might be Lethal Protector.
  Is that something that you pointed
  some of your actors to take a look at?
  - Yeah, I mean the Venom cannon is large,
  so we tried to, within  the scripting process,
  kind of choose a lane, if you will.
  And there were some unique challenges
  that I won't get into detail about,
  in terms of realizing this  version of the Venom film.
  But the Lethal Protector  is set in San Francisco,
  where we set our movie.
  It's a Venom first series.
  I mean, Spider-Man does appear in it,
  but it's a largely Venom-driven story.
  And then we pulled from a  bunch of different comics.
  In making the movie,
  I felt a responsibility to try
  and be as authentic to the  comics as I possibly could,
  given certain limitations.
  - And I feel like we've done a good job,
  especially tonally, just  because I think that's
  what resonates most about Venom.
  Disregarding the specifics,
  it's really about his character.
  And when you think about who he his
  and the relationship between he and Eddie,
  that's what we honed in and focused upon.
  - What about you?
  What are you zeroing in on?
  What are you drawing  upon for your character?
  Is it script, is it Ruben,  is it source material?
  - It's mainly Dawson's creek. (laughter)
  - Little known fact, Riz is  the biggest Dawson's Creek fan.
  - I'm playing the creek. (laughter)
  - That's one way to go.
  - But I mean, with the  creation of his character--
  - I haven't even seen  that before. (laughter)
  - Finally.
  - Yeah, something tells me  you'd be a huge Pacey fan.
  - Pacey all the way, obviously.
  - But with The Life  Foundation and Carlton Drake,
  that's something from the comics
  where we really try to identify
  a good villain for the film, and Riz,
  I think you had a real strong perspective
  on what you brought to the character
  and what his point of view is.
  - Well something that  we were speaking about
  is that no one thinks  that they're the bad guy.
  In their own mind they think  they're doing the right thing.
  And to be honest I still would  go to bat for Carlton Drake,
  even now as a fan of the film,
  as someone watching the film.
  Because he is someone who's trying
  to ensure a future for humanity,
  and he's looking at the big picture,
  and sometimes when you  take that God's eye view,
  individual lives start  to be less significant,
  if you're trying to fight for a future
  of humanity at large.
  So he's trying to do that.
  And I guess his ethics run into conflict
  with mainstream ethics.
  - He's an iconoclast.
  - He's just ahead of the curve.
  He's ahead of his time.
  - Cut him some slack.
  - Everyone needs to catch up, exactly.
  - You gotta break a few eggs  if you're gonna make an omelet.
  - Right, exactly, or try  to murder a antihero.
  Exactly, same difference.
  - Thank you.
  - I'm on your side man.
  - You better be.
  - Only because Tom isn't here.
  If Tom was here it would be  a totally different story,
  to be honest.
  I'm curious, there's so much  talk about the rights issues
  and the Spider-Man universe  and the MCU and all this stuff.
  If it was all one blend,
  and you could take from any portion,
  is there anything that you wish
  you could kind of put into this one,
  that you weren't able to  from a legal perspective?
  - I feel like we did a really  great version of those movies,
  so there's not much I  would change about it
  because I think it's really  satisfying in and of itself.
  But I am excited, to answer  that question in a real way,
  I mean the most iconic relationship
  is Venom and Spider-Man obviously.
  And so one can only imagine what
  that confrontation would be like,
  That epic battle between these two.
  - And so in future movies,
  or who knows when, I'm not gonna say,
  we might get to see that.
  I couldn't be more excited  about bringing them together.
  - So can you even say,  are there references
  to Peter Parker, Spider-Man in this film?
  - I mean, you'll just have  to see the movie I guess.
  - It's just more incentive to wait
  and see the movie I suppose, right?
  And what about rating wise?
  What did you guys figure out?
  - The movie is at present unrated.
  And we've pushed the envelope as far
  as we can with the superhero movies,
  so it's up to the ratings board
  to let us know where we end up.
  But I know that in order  to be true to Venom,
  that we had to take it to the hill.
  And so we did.
  And it's distinctive  among superhero movies
  in terms of its violence.
  As a huge fan of The Dark  Knight and other movies,
  there's a way to have a ground and gritty,
  hardcore, intense film.
  But we haven't been rated yet.
  - How aware are you of fans  and what they talk about
  in terms of social media  and that kind of thing,
  and are you reactive to that at all?
  As the first trailer hit, and  the second trailer, et cetera.
  Do you pay attention to that?
  And is it important to you?
  I mean, you've shot your part,
  there's nothing more you can do.
  But is it helpful to you,  even in the edit room,
  to know how people are accepting  your vision of the film?
  - Well I can say I've been  really proud of the fact
  that it seems like people are  responding to the trailer.
  The trailer got a ton of views.
  Which to me, just confirmed the fact
  that there's a real  appetite for this film.
  And so that puts upon me  a greater responsibility
  to deliver a movie that people  are gonna be excited about.
  And so I just hope that  they like what we've made,
  but I'm very proud of it and I think
  they'll be blown away  by Riz's performance,
  by Tom's performance, by  Michelle's performance,
  and the way that Venom has  come to life in this film
  is completely unique and exciting,
  and the footage we're gonna  show tonight in Hall H,
  I'm excited to get the reaction to it.
  Because I think it's pretty kick ass.
  - I'm curious for you, a working opposite.
  You've worked with some amazing talents
  already in your career,
  but working opposite, again Tom,
  who's a whole unique performer,
  and what he brings to I'm sure  Eddie and Venom is special.
  What do you recall about the  time you had on set with him,
  in terms of going toe to toe  with a guy like Tom Hardy?
  - I've known Tom for many, many years,
  from London and also a  little bit from music.
  - Tom Hardy appeared in a Riz music video.
  - What? There's so many  revelations here today.
  You're just dropping one after another.
  - Yeah, I remember when I  recorded my first ever track,
  we had just booked a job together.
  It was like a weird little moment
  within a moment on a reality TV show,
  where they bring in actors to read scripts
  that these writers are putting forward
  to try and get a show on Broadway.
  It was this whole surreal thing.
  And I played him my first track,
  and he was really encouraging.
  And we were rapping back and  forth and stuff like that.
  So I've known him for a while,
  and I think that Tom,
  quite honestly I think he's  crazy in the best possible way.
  - Right. No, I've gotcha, totally.
  - He's the best possible kind of crazy
  - Eccentric for a good cause.
  - No, which is that he's like,
  listen, I don't want  to compromise in trying
  to make this as good as possible.
  And like you said, he goes all out.
  He's dedicated, he's focused,  he's very, very disciplined.
  And I find that really  inspiring to be around.
  So it was cool, man.
  It was fun, to be honest.
  - Were you one of his Myspace  friends way back when?
  Have you ever seen his Myspace page?
  - Yes, it was him, but he was  pissed because the other Tom,
  the original Tom from Myspace,  is a closer friend than him.
  - Oh, he was one of your  top six or whatever it was?
  - Exactly. (laughter)
  - Fair enough.
  This gets thrown around  a lot, the method thing.
  Is he that on a set like this?
  - He did become an  alien on set, (laughter)
  and started biting people's heads off.
  It was intense.
  - Wow that might be a little too intense.
  - It caused union issues  but we got through it.
  The lawyers at Sony,  shout out, Sony lawyers.
  - Yeah, they've got the best.
  You have to when Tom's around
  playing an alien symbiote, right?
  Is he kind of bringing  Eddie on and off camera?
  - I wouldn't say method.
  He keeps it pretty loose,  generally speaking.
  But like Riz said, he's really focused,
  so when it comes time to do the work,
  he brings the performance.
  And that's the most exciting  thing as a director,
  to be sitting behind the monitors
  and watching these scenes
  that you've been picturing in your head,
  and you've read for months.
  When he brings it to life,
  it just transcends and  gets to this other level.
  And it's exciting.
  - It sounds like you love  your character in this one,
  but is there another  character in this film
  that in your minds eye,
  that would have been fun  to give a stab at that one,
  just seeing how they played it?
  - Actually, not a character
  that I would like to give a stab at,
  but just a character that I really liked
  and an actress that I  really liked is Jenny Slate.
  Because I worked with her a lot on this,
  she plays the lead scientist
  at The Life Foundation  that my character founded.
  And obviously she's mainly known
  as a comedian to many people,
  and she's absolutely hilarious,
  and had us in stitches  on set between takes,
  just cracking jokes.
  But I think people will be really taken
  with her performance in  this as a very sympathetic,
  soulful, grounded performance.
  Yeah, I'm just a big fan  of Jenny's in general,
  so I wouldn't dream of playing  the role that she played,
  but I'm really glad that  she played that role.
  - Fair enough.
  And for you, you were alluding to the fact
  that hopefully we get to see more
  of this character in other films.
  Do you spend much time positing
  what the second Venom film is?
  Do you guys have a treatment or an idea
  of what that would even look like?
  - Yeah, we've definitely laid  some groundwork in this film
  for the potential for a next film
  that I think myself and fans  will be really excited about.
  - Okay, more familiar territory perhaps?
  - Perhaps.
  - Okay.
  - It's not for me to say, but yeah.
  There's a lot of groundwork laid
  for this movie to go in a  really exciting direction
  and to meet a bunch of people
  that I think fans will  be really excited to see.
  - One last thing, I just  remembered another thing
  that you probably can't talk about.
  I'm gonna say the word Carnage.
  Do you have a response to that word?
  - Like I said, there's a  lot of exciting things.
  - Okay.
  - A lot of groundwork laid.
  - Is that a character  you like from the comics?
  - Yeah, I think everybody who  loves Venom loves Carnage,
  just because they're the  two greatest adversaries
  within that universe,  outside of Spider-Man.
  So yeah, for sure it'll be exciting
  to see where this all leads.
  - Okay.
  And last thing,  congratulations on Zombieland 2
  finally getting close to the finish line,
  at least in production.
  - Or the starting line, but yeah.
  - Well the finish line of  pre-production, getting there.
  It took a while to get here.
  - Yeah, no, it's really exciting.
  We've been working on the  script for a really long time.
  And to get that cast together,
  which is some of my favorite  actors to work with.
  - Some of them.
  - Yeah, well, there is a great  part for a certain somebody.
  Yeah, it would be a dream to  get to work with Riz again.
  But yeah, I'm really proud of the fact
  that I've worked with those  actors more than once,
  and it'll be really exciting
  to get us all back together again.
  I think for all of us,  the reason we're doing it
  is because we have such a fond,
  it was such a great  experience universally,
  and I think to reunite and go back
  to Zombieland is incredibly exciting.
  - I mean we know the  actors are coming back.
  Is that the core ensemble?
  I mean, Emma's obviously in a much
  different place in her career.
  - Yeah, it's the core ensemble.
  It doesn't quite pick  up where it left off,
  because there's been ten  years that have passed,
  but it's about that core nuclear family,
  and navigating that universe.
  There's still zombies.
  There might be some other people
  that they come across who are not zombies.
  But yeah, we're all just thrilled
  to go back to that world.
  - How do we get Bill Murray back involved?
  Is that even--
  - Trust me.
  Yeah, if you have his  number, please. (laughter)
  We'd love to give him a call
  and see if he's still available.
  - Is there a part written for Bill Murray?
  - No comment.
  - Okay. (laughter)
  I think I got something there.
  Congratulations on a big  moment here at Comic-Con.
  I can't wait to see the footage, guys.
  Congratulations on getting close
  to the finish line on Venom.
  Everyone's really excited for it.
  And have a blast at Hall H.
  - [Both] Thank you so much.
  - Thanks for being here guys.
     
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