'Venom' Director Explains Eddie's Choice in Snack Food

Between new villains and the mechanics of a symbiote, there's quite a lot that Venom leaves [...]

Between new villains and the mechanics of a symbiote, there's quite a lot that Venom leaves ambiguous -- but it looks like one food referenced in the film isn't one of them.

Mild spoilers for Venom below!

In a recent interview with SYFY, Venom director Ruben Fleischer was asked about the film's love of tater tots, which Eddie Brock/Venom (Tom Hardy) can be seen eating throughout the film. As it turns out, the tater tots were meant to show the different palettes that Eddie and Venom have, as well as just being for the sake of comedy.

"There was no deal with Ore-Ida, it just was in the script originally." Fleischer revealed. "It was always kind of a funny thing that the writers came up with, that he loves tater tots. We actually had to pare it down a little bit. There was a scene that we shot that didn't make it in the film, where he's at the grocery store buying and the Venom tendrils come out and grab a bunch of tater tots.

Of course, this isn't the only (non-human) food that Venom can be seen consuming in the film, with live lobsters, chocolate, and leftover chicken also being part of the plot. Still, fans have seemed to take quite a liking to the tater tot joke.

"It was definitely a funny runner but we also wanted to make sure it was clear that he was carnivorous and he wants live things to eat." Fleischer added. "And then at the end, they put in the thing about chocolate. Just as a nod to the comics where he finds chocolate as a replacement for adrenal glands. He's a bit of an omnivore but the tater tots are a funny runner."

In the days since Venom has made its debut, the critical and fan reception has been all over the map, with some arguing that the film's tone juggles between quite a few extremes. Still, it seems like those behind the film tried to honor the character -- tater tots and all.

"I'm a huge fan of comic book movies so I just tried to pick a lane that was true to the character," Fleischer told ComicBook.com in a previous interview. "I think inherent to the character, he's just darker, and we talked about more violent. It's just tonally different from everything else, especially when you're focusing on just Venom."

"He's not a sunshine kind of guy." Fleischer continued. "So, it takes place at night. It's darker. More menacing. I think that within the spectrum of all these movies, there's the DC super dark, Zack Snyder type version and then there's the Marvel movies and I like to think that we're in our own zone apart from that."

What did you think of Venom's tater tots jokes? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Venom is in theaters now.

0comments