LOS ANGELES — The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s norm is there’s no doubt about who’s good and who’s bad. Think of Thanos, the Vulture or Dr. Doom. There’s plenty of conflict in director Ruben Fleischer’s (“Zombieland”) action-filled “Venom,” but there’s a lot more gray area when it comes to the characters.
Even the film’s central figure of Venom is hard to peg because once the space-traveling Symbiote arrives on Earth, he ends up in the body of no-nonsense journalist Eddie Brock. What the two do together often crosses the line between good and evil.
Then there’s Dr. Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), a billionaire whose ambitions to seek sanctuary in space when Earth is no longer inhabitable, who’s behind events that set much of the storylines in motion. The question is whether Drake should be considered good or bad.
Ahmed understands there are some real world parallels to the character he plays, but none of them were a blueprint to create the complicated character of Drake. He took bits and pieces of a lot of people and blended that with what he saw in the comics where Drake appeared. The character first appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man” No. 298.
Drake became a more important character in “Venom” because unlike in the comic book origin, there is no connection to Spider-Man. That’s why Ahmed’s got more time to play Drake’s many layers.
“My character is someone who is very well-intentioned,” says Ahmed, whose past works include “The Night of …” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” “He’s doing a very ambitious thing. That same ambition that drives that initial mission kind of overtakes him.
“I don’t think of him as a bad guy. I don’t think he’s greedy or trying to hurt anyone. He’s just trying to make sure the human species evolves. Now, granted, he thinks he’s the pinnacle of human evolution as we already have it. There is an element of narcissism about him as he has a hunger for greatness.”
The hunger is what ends up giving Brock an alien version of a Jekyll and Hyde personality as he deals with Venom. The pair become so close Venom even gives Brock some dating advice about his former girlfriend, Anne (Michelle Williams).
This is another place Fleischer blurs the lines when it comes to his characters. Anne is now dating Dr. Patrick Mulligan (Reid Scott), and that should automatically make him and Brock enemies. But, Mulligan is far more textured than that, as he actually comes to the aid of Brock.
“The love triangle allows for the character to be seen in many ways,” Scott said. “We wanted to see him as an advisor — at least from Eddie’s point of view — because he’s with Eddie’s ex-girlfriend. We had a lot of fun with that because I tried to approach the character in that he got a huge kick out of Eddie Brock.
“The fact that he’s always been a fan of Eddie Brock makes for a nice bit of tension. In a movie like this, it’s all about heightening the stakes. The ultimate stake being saving the world, but all the way down the line he can’t even get the woman back he loves because she’s fallen for somebody else.”
It’s not just the roles that are complicated. The actors also have resumes that reflect a blend of comedy and drama. Scott has starred in a broad range of television projects from the deeply dramatic “The Big C” to the political comedy “Veep.” For Ahmed, this is the second big action movie for him, but he also has worked on small films such as “Nightcrawler.”
Ahmed said the size of the production doesn’t change how he approaches each role.
“Each character belongs in their own world with their own reality and their own set of circumstances. You just have to commit to that,” Ahmed said.
Scott describes going from a comedy like “Veep” to a dark action movie such as “Venom” is his way of making sure no one forgets he can play a wide variety of roles. Now that “Veep” is coming to an end, Scott is trying to decide what acting road he wants to take next. He sees his role in “Venom” as a perfect bridge because the character is so complicated.
In the case of “Venom,” both he and Scott had to commit to highly textured characters. Blending good and evil is a lot like mixing sharps and flats in a musical composition. Ahmed’s aware of how music can represent a lot of different things because he has been performing as a rap artist under the name Riz MC. His new single, “Mogambo,” will be released Wednesday.
