Spider-Man fans might be excited to see Tom Hardy star as Eddie Brock in the new Venom movie, but Spider-Man 3 star Thomas Haden Church isn’t here for your Topher Grace hate.
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 is a bit infamous among comic book movie fans. Unlike the first two movies in Raimi’s trilogy, the film was scattered, unfocused, and downright silly in places. The film introduced Venom, played by Topher Grace, and didn’t really give the character the space he needed to develop.
Related: Tom Hardy is confronting his demons in the first Venom teaser
Naturally, with Tom Hardy’s Venom just around the corner, discussion of Grace’s portrayal of the character have started to resurface. While it’s natural for fans to compare performances, one of Grace’s former co-stars is standing by Grace’s original performance. In an interview with JoBlo, Thomas Haden Church was asked about his feelings on the new Venom movie and fan reactions to Spider-Man 3.
Church explained in the interview that it was his admiration for Sam Raimi that made him take the part, but that the script changed when Grace’s role as Venom was added late in the game, “The studio felt like they had me, they had Franco’s story continuing, and they were like, we need one more that’s more of a millennial. And that’s how Venom and Topher Grace came into the picture.”
But just because Grace’s role was added late in the game doesn’t mean that Church isn’t a fan of Grace’s portrayal of Eddie Brock, “I thought Topher was great in the movie and Venom is a pretty scary animal.” He was also quick to add that he loved the film and being a part of it, script changes or not.
For Grace’s part, most fans would agree that he did the best job he could have given the script. One of the big problems with Spider-Man 3 was that the Venom storyline was smushed into an already crowded film. It will definitely be nice to see Eddie Brock get to really explore his story in a Venom standalone film, and will always make us wonder what could have been had Topher Grace’s Venom had a bit more room to grow.