Venom movie nabs Fifty Shades of Grey writer for latest script

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The VENOM movie has been gaining a lot of traction in the news recently by hiring new cast members Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate, adding to Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed. Fans across the inter-webs have been loving this news, but one recent update will be sure to get the comment boards buzzing: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY screenwriter Kelly Marcel will pen the newest draft of the script.

The update came shortly after Variety posted a story announcing Slate’s casting, with the publication’s own Justin Kroll sending out a tweet with the details:

VENOM update: Kelly Marcel ( 50 SHADES OF GREY) penning latest draft of script

— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) October 4, 2017

Before this, Sony has Scott Rosenberg and Jeff Pinkner working on the script, after having worked with them on JUMANJI 2 and THE DARK TOWER respectively. It seems Sony is looking for a new angle on the flick if they’ve gone and hired Marcel to rework the script.

The movie Marcel is most known for – GREY – did not earn much praise from critics or audiences, but the film was a smash hit nonetheless. Surprisingly, people responding to the news are being quite positive, and are anxious to see how she brings these characters to the screen. She also worked on the crowd-pleaser SAVING MR. BANKS, so perhaps Sony wants Marcel to work on creating more meaningful relationships between the main characters. Or, perhaps Hardy’s Venom has a dominance-driven sex fetish. Seems in his wheelhouse.

Frankly, I have no clue what direction the original script was going down before they hired Marcel to rework it all, but perhaps Sony wanted to hire someone who can bring out a darker, more R-rated side to things, as well as bring a female voice into the normally male-dominated world of comic book movies. She must have had a great pitch for Sony, so I’m going to keep an open mind and wish her the best of luck. She only has to kick-start Sony’s own universe of superhero movies using one of the Spider-Man world’s most iconic characters – and do so without the use of Spider-Man. No pressure.

The VENOM movie is aiming for October 5, 2018, and is being directed by Ruben Fleischer.