‘Venom’ VFX Supervisor Reveals Which Comics Influenced the Live-Action Symbiotes

When Venom’s solo movie finally arrived on the big screen earlier this year, comic book fans finally got to see Eddie Brock and his Symbiote brought to life with the best visual effects technology that 2018 has to offer. No matter what you might have thought about the movie itself, the VFX surrounding the character itself was certainly a sight to behold.

Led by VFX Supervisor Paul Franklin, the team at DNEG brought Venom to life in a way was not only true to the character from the pages of Marvel Comics, but also incorporated several different styles from over the years. Ahead of Venom‘s home release, which arrives on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 18th, ComicBook.com spoke with Franklin about which comics provided the biggest influence for his take on the live-action adaptation.

“You know, we looked at all the comics series,” Franklin told us. “We looked at, a lot obviously, Lethal Protector, which was a big inspiration for the film in general, and that gave us something to work from. We also spent a lot of time looking at Venom: Dark Origin, a more recent interpretation of Venom. And, that is to say, what we responded to though, was the ever-changing, dynamic nature of the character.

“But ultimately, you have to let the thing be a little bit of its own thing for the screen, because what works on a comic book page, style wise, ostensibly two dimensional universe, doesn’t necessarily work when you transform it into an image that’s on the screen. I need to think about the way that other comic book characters, their costumes and things, have been observed over the years. Characters like Superman, you can compare him to the original single version of the character back in the ’30s to how he looks in the movies now. You’ve gotta allow it to breathe in the cinematic universe. And so, that was the jumping off point for us. And then it was a process of experimentation trial and error to get something which worked well in the film world.”

For a closer look at how the team brought Venom‘s action sequences to life, you can check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip from the making of the film in the video at the top of the page. The clip shows the initial concept animation for the “lobby fight” scene in the movie, alongside the final version.

“I really responded to the very dynamic … the amorphous nature of the character of the comic books,” Franklin responded when asked about the challenge of creating Venom for the big screen. “And so, bringing that to the screen, distilling the essence of that with the friends I’ve got to want to see, that he’s not just a guy in a costume. He’s something altogether different. Getting that, and then putting it into a photo realistic film world is what we were aiming to do. That was a really interesting proposition.”

Venom will be available for purchase on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on Tuesday, December 18th.