British writer Kelly Marcel has quite a few productions under her belt. With a history in both big and small screen, her most notable work to date is bringing 50 Shades of Grey from page to screen. Though the film faced much criticism for its poor narrative, that is likely due to the source material, which was also subject to the same complaints. Despite the criticism, the series has grossed over $570 million at the box office, a number which is set to increase when the third film of the series is released. But now Marcel is venturing into much different waters as she is set to pen the script for Sony’s upcoming Venom movie.
According to Variety’s Justin Kroll Marcel will become one of a handful of female writers to write for a superhero film and will be joining forces with Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer to create the picture. There is already a star-studded cast in place, with Tom Hardy set to play the titular character, accompanied by Michelle Williams and Riz Ahmed, in a currently unknown role.
There is much speculation surrounding the plot of Sony’s Venom, but there have been no concrete details about the storyline just yet. What we do know is that the film will unfortunately not be set in the same universe as the MCU. As the story is to be set in a new universe, it is likely that it may be an origin story for the alien symbiote and its host. The fan favourite character varies between antihero and outright villain, so it will be interesting to see which route Marcel will take when writing the script.
Marcel and the rest of the production team will have to work quick as the film has had quite a rocky start, already facing numerous delays. With an optimistic planned release date of October 2018, a lot of presumably rushed work will have to be packed in if they are to have Venom ready for cinemas a year from now.