Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis was responsible for convincing Woody Harrelson to voice Carnage on top of playing Cletus Kasady in the film.
It was Harrelson who brought this tidbit to light during an interview with ComicBook.com. "It's wild, because in a way, you're playing two characters in one," the actor explained. "So there was a lot of discussion about the voice and also discussions with Tom [Hardy], but obviously with Andy [Serkis], who directed it. And I just kept messing with the voice, and I was thinking to myself, 'Who's going to know the difference, if Andy Serkis did the voice, who's a master of voices? Why don't you do it, Andy?' And no, he was insistent that I do it, but I really... I like how it turned. Obviously, effects are put on the voice, but I really like how it all turned out."
The Venom sequel pits Hardy's investigative journalist Eddie Brock and his symbiote Venom (who Hardy also voices) against Carnage and the serial killer Cletus, the latter of whom audiences met during the first movie's mid-credits scene. And as Serkis sees it, his decision to have Harrelson pull double-duty as Cletus and Carnage was as much a creative choice as it was one born out of practicality.
"Yeah, I mean, it was imperative that we could have both so we knew the timings, that we knew how to frame," said Serkis. "We knew all the other actors had cues to work off. So with both Tom was recording Venom and then Woody did Carnage. So we had the real voices there to bounce off."
Among those joining Hardy and Harrelson in the Let There Be Carnage cast is Michelle Williams, reprising her role from the first movie as Eddie's ex-fiancée, the attorney Anne Weying. The film also introduces Naomie Harris to the franchise as Frances Barrison/Shriek, Cletus' love interest in Marvel's comic books and a super-villain in her own right. However, despite his long history of motion-capture performances and live-action acting, it seems Serkis doesn't make an onscreen appearance during the movie.
Sony plans to release Venom: Let There Be Carnage exclusively in theaters on Oct. 1.
Source: ComicBook.com