Tony Todd Discusses His Unique Take on Venom in SPIDER-MAN 2 Describing Him Like "an Overgrown Kid" and "Shakespearean"
Tony Todd was perfectly cast as the voice of Venom in Insomniac’s recently released Marvel game Spider-Man 2! He brings the character to life in an awesome way and I’m much happier with this version of the villain than what Sony Pictures and Tom Hardy have been doing with the Venom movies. This version of Venom is different, but it’s awesome!
During a recent interview with Variety, Todd recalled the day he landed the role of Venom saying: “You know, I thought I had magic calls before. I remember when I got the call for Zoom in The Flash. When I first got the Fallen in Transformers. But this one was like a standing ovation for my collective voiceover work. My whole career, actually. Everything leads to another thing. I’m a big kid. I’m a gamer myself. So it all just fell into place.”
Todd goes on to talk about developing his own unique take on Venom saying: “As soon as I got the job, I went over to Golden Apple and said, ‘Give me your best 20 graphic novels on Venom’ and they willingly supplied it for me. I just started there and tried to dig as deep as I could.”
He went on to tease his interpretation of the villainous character: “It’s a given that people think he’s evil. As an actor, you can never play evil. For me, I wanted to emphasize the joy of his landing on this particular place in time. It’s filled with so many human beings who are ready to be symbiotized — food choices and stuff!”
One thing that Todd made sure to avoid before jumping into the character was the Venom movies, saying: “I watched a little bit of the first Venom movie, but I wanted to make it my own. I just took the temperature check and then just created things — a building block.”
As for what the actor thinks the most important aspect of Venom is, he said: “The joy! Venom, even though he may do things to people that they don’t like, he’s filled with joy. He’s happy. He’s like an overgrown kid in kindergarten that drinks too many orange juices and graham crackers for lunchtime. Then the teacher can’t put them down because he’s faster.”
Todd went on to describe the character as “thunderous,” and “Shakespearean” saying: “He’s well-rooted. There’s nothing flighty about him. He’s one of the most grounded, both feet on the ground, characters I’ve ever had the opportunity to express. He’s also very Shakespearean.”
You can definitely tell that Todd is having a great time playing this character! He hopes that fans can feel the love that he put into his performance: “I just want fans to know that I’m a gamer first. I didn’t just take this as a job. I took this as an act of love. I hope that comes across with my interpretation and my inclusion with the entire ensemble.”
Todd also explained that everything he’s done in his career has led him to this moment, saying: “All the voicing patterns I’ve learned and accumulated over the years all feed into the moment at hand. And I can honestly say Venom is one of my most cherished roles that I’ve ever had the opportunity to layer and to bring expression to. This is a role of a lifetime. If I only did one other role in life, this would be it. But hopefully, there’s many more.”
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is now available to play on PlayStation 5.