Intriguing: Gary Ross Will Do Spielberg Cast-Off Matt Helm Next, Not Venom
Two stories are coming together here.Not too long agowe told you aboutMatt Helm, the project thatSteven Spielbergwanted to direct before he signed on toHarvey. Thenjust a week agowe told you aboutGary’Seabiscuit’Rosstaking on theSpider-Manspin-offVenomfor Sony. Now it looks like things are being shuffled around once again, as some insider info pegs Ross as the director ofMatt Helm, and that he’ll do that beforeVenom.
The Playlistgot the exclusive from a source they say is close to Ross. That source saysVenomcould still happen, but is “a ways off and will have to wait” while Ross doesMatt Helm. The claim is thatHelmis being scheduled for a summer 2010 shoot if things go according to plan. Granted, when we heard about Ross taking onVenom(he’s also doing aSpidey 4rewrite, remember, so not a stretch) it was an in-talks situation, so things weren’t totally set in stone. And if this is correct (and I don’t doubt it, as The Playlist sources their stuff well) then that deal was more fluid than we assumed.
I’m perfectly happy with this. I can see Ross doing well with an action-adventure film likeMatt Helmmore easily than I can with a much more CGI-heavy picture likeVenom. Though, in truth, I’m sureMatt Helmwill have to be madly CGI’d as well, so that might be moot. More to the point, I’d rather see the adventure movie. LetVenomdangle for a while; it’s not a film that is so promising, especially if Sony is going the ‘Defender of the Innocent’ angle as we’ve heard. We’ve got plenty of comic-book movies right now; let’s have another pulpy counter-agent tale going before we add Venom to the deck.
