WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage, now playing in theaters
There is a reason why Venom: Let There Be Carnage has such a short runtime and it has to do with Carnage.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis explained in an interview with CBR how Carnage, the film’s villain, was responsible for the film’s runtime, which clocks in at about 97 minutes. “The thing is, we all felt — Tom [Hardy], Kelly [Marcel], myself, everybody, really — that this needed to be lean, fast-paced, like a thrill ride, really,” Serkis said. “We wanted to get to the point where Carnage was coming into the story quickly, but without rushing the important character beats — not necessarily feeling that we had to linger.”
The fast-paced nature of Let There Be Carnage corresponds to how the film was shot as well. The film, which is a sequel to 2018’s Venom, only took 54 days to shoot in its entirety which, according to Serkis, “is pretty incredible for a movie this scale.”
“So we all knew that we wanted the pace to almost be breathless, in a way, and to lead us and that events were charging on ahead of us, that Eddie was trying to catch up with Carnage, and Mulligan is trying to catch [up],” he continued. “In the same way, I suppose, once Cape Fear gets going, that the events happen very thick and fast. From the thriller point of view, I think we wanted to keep it moving — and also, it works well for the humor, too.”
Serkis addressed the film’s short runtime in previous interviews as well, stating that he never expected the sequel to run too long and that it was always intended “to be a real thrill ride.” He said, “And a fast, muscular…not hanging around too much with exposition. But having said that, I think what we’ve done is achieve a real balance between dropping anchor with all of the characters so that you feel that you’re fully immersed in them and that we’re not just rushing through to the next battle or action part.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage will introduce several different supervillains, notably Carnage, played by Woody Harrelson, and the live-action debut of Shriek, played by Naomie Harris. Harrelson’s addition to the cast of the Venom sequel was announced in August 2019 after he made his first appearance in the post-credit scene for Venom in 2018. Venom: Let There Be Carnage will introduce several characters from the Venom/Carnage mythos, including Harris as Shriek, Stephen Graham as Detective Mulligan, as well as Sean Delaney and Larry Olubamiwo in unknown roles.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is in theaters now.
Source: CBR
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