The other week came the news that “Venom” writer/producer Kelly Marcel would take over directing duties for the third entry in the Tom Hardy-led film franchise.
Marvel replaces Andy Serkis, who helmed the second entry, which was released last year, whilst Ruben Fleischer directed the first. Serkis, having had a busy 2022 with both “The Batman” and “Andor,” recently spoke with The Playlist’s The Rogue Ones podcast and says his departure is mostly to do with scheduling:
“I felt like I was the custodian of Venom at a really interesting time, and I really loved my time on it. But, yeah, the other projects that I’d already sort of had lined up – I had to get back to them because they take so long to bring into the world.”
Serkis is currently shooting the “Luther” movie alongside Idris Elba, has his long-gestating “Animal Farm” adaptation in the works, and is executive producing the series “Half Bad”. He’s also set to return as Alfred Pennyworth in “The Batman” sequel, but can’t say when the project will happen:
“That’s difficult to answer, whatever happens, Matt Reeves is a genius storyteller and he always goes for the emotional heart of a story, and that was what I was so proud of was here was a relationship between Bruce and Alfred.
That felt kind of emotionally powerful and connected and had so many undercurrents. To get to play that with Rob [Pattinson] – he’s such a good actor. So, I just hope there’s more of that. Plus, maybe [Alfred] not getting injured so much next time.”
That film’s sequel was announced in April, with both Reeves and Pattinson set to return. However, the film is expected to be a few years away.
