Todd mcfarlane
THE ARTIST BEHIND VENOM OPENS UP…
One of the biggest names in comic books, McFarlane rose to fame with his ’80s run as artist on The Amazing Spider-Man, during which he co-created Venom. The writer/illustrator/publisher (he co-founded Image Comics) is also about to turn filmmaker with a new adaptation of his other iconic creation, Spawn…
What did you think of Venom?
I enjoyed it. As the visual creator of Venom, I had one big ask: “Please, please, please, make my Venom big, and make him nasty. And you’ll have me.” And when I saw the film at the premiere I was like, “Aw, yeah – they made him big!”
Were you involved in the production?
No, I wasn’t. But I’ve always said that neither Ruben [Fleischer, Venom’s director] nor Sony owes me any obligation. If somebody’s spending $100 million on a production, they can make the decisions they need to make. Nobody needs to worry about what Todd McFarlane thinks – other than me!
Yet you have a ‘name cameo’ in the movie, don’t you?
[laughs] Name cameo! It’s going to be a new category at the Oscars. I didn’t spot it in the film, but my wife did. I’ll have to pay more attention next time…
Were you surprised how well the film performed?
The premiere was a Monday; on Tuesday, there was a bit of pushback from critics… but on Thursday, at New York Comic-Con, I could see the tenacity and loyalty of fans of Venom and superhero movies; people were angry, saying, “These critics aren’t going to kill [superhero movies]!” And then by Friday it was like, “We’re going to see Venom. Screw everybody else.”
Did you ever think Venom would have this kind of legacy?
I don’t think any creative person goes, “I did something new today that’s going to blanket the entire globe.” You just come up with silly ideas, and the seeds of those ideas grow. And Venom’s creation was actually a by-product of me not wanting to draw Spider-Man in a black costume. Upper management wanted to keep the costume, so I said, “Let’s put it on somebody else.” And because I knew the [symbiote] costume was alive, I made him into a big, hulking monster. If I’d known my co-creator David [Michelinie, writer] was going to put a human, Eddie Brock, inside the costume I might have made him smaller, but then I said, “Why don’t we just make the costume swallow him up? A bit like what happens with Bruce Banner and the Hulk.”
Why do you think Venom has endured for so long?
Part of it is he just looks cool. He looks badass, physically imposing. And he has an attitude. He falls into the same category as Wolverine or the Punisher – characters that don’t care, that are sort of reckless. Some superheroes are a little more… polite; they try to do things by the book, but I like the ones that just do their own thing.
Like Spawn, for example – how is the new movie coming along?
We’re getting the financing put together and trying to convince Hollywood that there are different ways to skin the superhero genre. The MCU is the go-to formula at the moment, but even if you go outside that formula – Deadpool, Logan, Venom – it works; comic-book movies are just bulletproof right now. So my conversation with Spawn is, ‘Let me go in another corner.’ And that corner is serious, dramatic, dark – but still under the umbrella of comic-book movies.
Jamie Foxx is set to play the lead…
He’s a hell of an actor. And so is [co-star Jeremy Renner]. When I talk to them, we discuss the drama movies that they’ve done. Because special effects, those are easy – it’s actors you need! Matthew Leyland
ETA | TBC / SPAWN’S RELEASE DATE IS YET TO BE CONFIRMED.