IF LOOKS COULD THRILL Inside the skin-crawling design of the latest movie supervillain H
E’S got the bulk of Andre the Giant, the tongue of Gene Simmons and the dining habits of Jeffrey Dahmer.
He is Venom. In the self-titled movie, opening Friday, the viscous alien symbiote escapes from a San Francisco lab and bonds with investigative reporter Eddie Brock (played by Tom Hardy).
The pairing allows Brock to transform into a 7 ¹/2-foot-tall, muscled, toothy monster who’s constantly begging his host to be allowed to bite the heads off humans.
Venom first appeared in Marvel Comics in the 1980s as Spider-Man’s foe and quickly became one of the publisher’s most popular characters.
Part of his appeal is his striking design — like a dark, mirror-image Spider-Man.
“Venom” director Ruben Fleischer says he began developing a look by pulling his favorite images from the comics. Then, he worked with the visual effects team for about six months to perfect the design.
“There was going to be a lot of fan opinions about it,” Fleischer tells The Post. “We wanted to make sure we were really confident in what we were putting forward.”
Fleischer breaks down aspects of the venomous design.
THE CHEST
Comic-book Venom has a white spider emblem on his chest, but because of the complicated world of superhero movie rights — more tangled than Spidey’s web — this Sony-produced film has no connection to the Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Instead of that stark emblem, the filmmakers opted for white, veiny lines instead.
“One reason Venom looks so good is the contrast of black and white,” Fleischer says. “We wanted that contrasting white pattern and experimented with 50 to 100 designs.”
HEIGHT
The filmmakers played with a couple different heights, settling on the hulkingbut-reasonable 7 ¹/2 feet upon a recommendation from producer Avi Arad. He’d faced challenges determining a size for the monster in 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk.”
“The Hulk had been a lot bigger, and they had trouble with it when he had to connect on the human scale,” Fleischer says.
VOICE
Venom appeared in 2007’s “Spider-Man 3,” as well as video games and cartoons over the years, so the filmmakers had a starting point for what he sounded like.
“I just wanted it to be really deep and menacing and scary,” Fleischer says. “And, obviously, Tom wanted to make it his own.”
Before production began, Hardy sent Fleischer several voice tests that he had recorded on his laptop and altered using filters with GarageBand software.
“Tom has a history of making really distinctive voice choices for his characters,” Fleischer says. “It’s a way into his characters.”