Andy Serkis Closes Deal to Direct 'Venom 2' (Exclusive)

Authored by hollywoodreporter.com and submitted by thomasp003

Serkis flew to Los Angeles the week of July 22 to meet with Sony brass on the project and was one of several filmmakers in the mix for the job. This will be Serkis' third directorial effort, after the 2017 drama Breathe and last year's non-Disney take on the Rudyard Kipling stories, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, which ended up on Netflix after being made at Warner Bros.

Serkis rose to fame for his motion-capture and performance-capture acting work as Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy from 2002 to 2004. He cut his teeth with second unit directing by reteaming with Jackson for the Hobbit trilogy (2012-14). He played the villain Snoke in the recent Star Wars films, as well as bad guy Klaw in Marvel Studios' Black Panther. His expertise with CG and performance-capture technology is one of the factors that landed him the Venom 2 gig.

Kelly Marcel wrote the script for Venom 2. Ruben Fleischer helmed 2018's Venom, which starred Michelle Williams and featured a last-minute cameo by Woody Harrelson as chief Venom villain Cletus Kasady, aka Carnage. Serkis previously worked with Harrelson on 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes.

Shortly after the news broke Monday, Serkis shared a post on his verified Instagram account.

"Verified It’s actually happening. I can feel it, the Symbiote has found a host in me, and I’m ready for the ride...Can’t wait," he wrote.

Serkis is repped by CAA and Principal Entertainment.

Daafda on August 5th, 2019 at 22:23 UTC »

Works hard for two decades in small stage, movie, and tv roles.

Lands the Gollum role at 36.

Scores significant roles in franchise series like Planet of the Apes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Star Wars.

Now he's directing his own big budget blockbuster at 55.

I like this story.

NextChamp on August 5th, 2019 at 21:54 UTC »

You know who would play a better Carnage than Woody Harrelson in a hilariously bad wig?

Andy Serkis.

StudBoi69 on August 5th, 2019 at 21:42 UTC »

Andy Serkis also closes deal to play Carnage's hair.