Back in 2018,Venomwas released to mixed reviews, despite its massive box office success. While Tom Hardy’s eccentric performance elevated the movie above generic blockbuster fare, it did fall intoa lot of the traps of forgettable comic book movies. Namely, it had an underdeveloped villain.Four Lions’ Riz Ahmed was massively underutilized in the role of Carlton Drake, a vaguely evil billionaire who bonds with the Riot symbiote, fights Venom, and dies on cue in the rock-‘em-sock-‘em final battle.
Thankfully, the movie’s upcoming sequel is set to rectify that. Although Riot’s one-note characterization inVenomdisappointed a lot of fans, the mid-credits scene somewhat redeemed it with the promise that Carnage would terrorize Eddie Brock in the next movie. Woody Harrelson was introduced asserial killer Cletus Kasadyahead of his major antagonistic role inVenom: Let There Be Carnage, set to hit theaters on September 24.
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Besides the script, the most important part of depicting a supervillain on-screen is the casting. Spidey fans forgave the Green Goblin’s hideous Power Rangers armor in Sam Raimi’sSpider-ManbecauseWillem Dafoe embodied Norman Osborn so well.Let There Be Carnageis covered in this department, because Woody Harrelson proved his ability to effectively play Cletus Kasady decades ago.
Harrelson’s work in Oliver Stone’s controversial 1994 masterpieceNatural Born Killersproves that he would make the perfect version of an on-screen Carnage. Drawn from an ultraviolent script thatQuentin Tarantino sold before becoming a director,Natural Born Killersstars Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as Mickey and Mallory Knox, a Bonnie and Clyde-esque pair of lovers on the run who go on a blood-soaked crime spree across America. After getting his hands on Tarantino’s script, Stone heavily rewrote it as a more politically charged satire of the media’s glorification of criminals. During their cross-country murder spree, Mickey and Mallory amass an impressive fanbase.
As seen inVenom, Eddie Brock’s proclivity for good is what forces Venom to be a sort of antihero who only eats bad people. Cletus Kasady, on the other hand, is a sadistic serial killer who murders people in gruesome fashion for fun. When he bonds with the Carnage symbiote, they’re a match made in heaven. Carnage is an offspring of Venom and essentiallyexhibits all of Venom’s worst qualities. Harrelson’s turn as Mickey Knox inNatural Born Killersproved he’s more than capable of nailing this role.
ThroughoutNatural Born Killers, Mickey and Mallory have plenty of fun killing innocent people. When they reminisce about their first murder – Mallory’s abusive father, played by Rodney Dangerfield – it’s shot inthe style of a wholesome multi-camera family sitcom. In one of the early action scenes, Mickey enjoys gunning down all the patrons of a diner as much as he enjoys the diner’s famous key lime pie. Kasady’s violent behavior is only exacerbated when he bonds with Carnage. IfLet There Be Carnagereally leans into Kasady’s psychotic side, then Harrelson could play Kasady as Mickey and Carnage as a version of Mickey with the sadism dialed up even higher.
In the comics, Kasady first bonds with the Carnage symbiote while sharing a prison cell with Eddie Brock, but this could be tweaked for the movie.Venom’s mid-credits scene showed Eddie arriving at the prison where Kasady is incarcerated to interview him, so it’s possible that the symbiotes will bond during the interview. Interestingly, in the second half ofNatural Born Killers, Mickey Knox is profiled and interviewed in prison by the host of an exploitative true-crime series, Wayne Gale, a great forgotten performance by Robert Downey, Jr.
It’s possible that the parallels withNatural Born Killersare the reason Harrelson was cast to play Kasady in the first place. The inclusion of Carnage could lead toa crossover with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. In the comics, fighting Carnage is pretty much the only reason that Spidey and Venom have ever teamed up. It would be fun to see the innocence of Holland’s Spidey contrasted with the deranged killer mindset that Harrelson will surely bring to Kasady.
Casting Carnage was a tricky challenge, as is casting basically any beloved comic book role, but theVenomproducers have picked the perfect person to bring Kasady to the big screen. Harrelson already nailed the unsettling personality of a sadistic mass murderer who takes pleasure in killing in Stone’s classic satirical thriller. There’s an unnervingly zany side to Harrelson’s performance inNatural Born Killersthat brings a darkly comedic edge to the violent proceedings. If he brings this energy toLet There Be Carnage, it’ll fit in perfectly withTom Hardy’s peculiar take on Eddie Brock. Harrelson will really be able to let loose if, likeNatural Born Killers, theVenomsequel is rated R. And, realistically, any movie about alien sludge that eats humans should be rated R.
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