Variety reports that Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea, My Week with Marilyn) has entered talks to join the upcoming Venom movie from Sony Pictures. The outlet reports that she will play a District Attorney in the film and possibly the love interest of Hardy’s anti-hero character.
Williams joins a cast that includes Hardy as the titular character and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story‘s Riz Ahmed in an undisclosed role. Writers Scott Rosenberg (Pain & Gain, Jumanji) & Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2) will pen the script for the Venom film, which has Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) directing. It will not be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
First appearing in the comic book series as an alien costume worn by Spider-Man in Marvel‘s The Amazing Spider-Man #252 in 1984, it was several years before the creature left Peter Parker and merged with photographer Eddie Brock, forming the antihero known as Venom. Since then, the character has appeared in a variety of different forms and bonded with several different hosts. In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, the suit has a more terrestrial origin, created by Parker and Brock’s scientist parents in an attempt to cure cancer. More recently, the Venom symbiote has been moving between hosts, including Mac Gargan (aka The Scorpion) and Peter Parker’s old high school rival, Flash Thompson.
Venom previously appeared on the big screen, played by Topher Grace in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. Since the release of that film in 2007, rumors have persisted about a solo Venom movie, but various iterations of the project have failed to materialize.
Production begins this fall on Venom and it is set for an October 5, 2018 release date.
