Where Did Raimi Say He Dislikes Venom?

The line is that he purposefully claimed he hated the concept of Venom, in order to throw fans off the scent of who he was going to make the next Spidey villain.

I don't recall him ever saying that he disliked the character, but I remember him playing coy when someone asked him about Venom. He pretended to not know the character's origins or anything about him.

But I've never read or seen an interview where he says , "I hate Venom."

The above is not at all true. He said that he was not interested in Venom before the first film was even released (the original source was text taken from a press conference or convention coverage for the very first film). Raimi has consistently stated that he's much more beholden to the villains who were part of the canon when he was a child.

A few months ago - when Wizard Magazine ran an issue devoted to comic movies on the horizon, a Wizard journalist interviewing Avi Arad brought this very thing up, and asked - essentially - the how and why of Raimi's change of heart.

I'm paraphrasing here, but Arad said that he told Raimi that Spidey belongs not just to him (Raimi), but to the fans - and that the fans want Venom.

Raimi never had it in his mind to tell a Venom tale. He was sort of forced into it. I can't imaging the screenwriting acrobatics used to make sense of the Venom origin (Like...do you run an opening credits crawl explaining the Secret Wars? Yeesh!).

My vote would have been for John Jameson to bring the symbiote back and become Venom after being jilted at the altar, but...

The truth is, Raimi - like all smart people (heh!) - disliked Venom because Venom is exceedingly corny. No telling how he feels about the character now - though in the same Wizard issue he mentioned not being sure how he feels about the character yet (and that's having shot the thing already)...

Venom can't be any worse than the villains they've used in the first two movies, can he?

I thought I remembered him saying something to the effect during interview post-"Spider-Man". And in some ways, at least the way he had become in the comics, I'd agree. But the wayhe's sort of the dark mirror image of Spider-Man will hopefully make for some very nice drama, especially since he's wisely cast Grace as a Peter Parker-esque rival.

You didn't like Doc Ock?

I have a feeling Sandman is in Spidey 3 because Venom is--Raimi's said that Sandman is his favorite Spider-Man villain. So, tit for tat--he bows to Avi/the fans and does Venom, but tosses in his own personal favorite, too.

There's an interview in the new Wizard with Topher Grace, and he said Raimi said he didn't like Venom because he was being "coy" and not showing his hand that Venom would indeed be in SM3.

I'm more worried about how they are going to shoehorn Sandman into the first movie. Venom being the antithesis of Parker is a interesting to me. (I only know the movies, not the comics, though.)

For what it's worth, at last year's Comic-Con, Raimi said he originally wasn't interested in Venom at first but had grown to like the character. I was there to hear this first-hand...but then again, I don't really believe much of what Raimi says anymore anyway.

I imagine this was how it really sounded.

So true.

Wait a minute, what happened? Is this because of the Elfman situation?

Partially. My feelings are also tainted by people I know who've worked with him over the years and paint a very disappointing picture about how he's changed in the wake of the SPIDER-MAN films and their huge success. But whatever, so long as the films are good, that's really all that matters.