10 Woefully Miscast Actors In Comic Book Movies
8. Topher Grace As Venom - Spider-Man 3
One of the most surprising announcements during the marketing of Spider-Man 3 would be that Topher Grace, star of That 70’s Show, would be adopting the dual mantle of Eddie Brock and Venom. This surprise decision has been echoed by Grace since then, who revealed in an interview that he was as shocked as anyone when he was given the call.
The character of Venom was introduced to the comics in 1988 and the duality of the character is where the greatest strength lies, very much influenced by the classic Jekyll and Hyde story.
Effectively playing two characters in the same movie is of course a tall order, and the fact that Grace was so inexperienced (apart from said role in That 70's Show) meant that this was always going to be difficult to pull off. He simply lacked the range required to portray the torn and conflicted Eddie with the monstrous Venom, and both suffer as a result. He acts as a bland cliched frat boy as Eddie, and is nowhere near intimidating or frankly scary enough as Venom.
Perhaps it was just too difficult to see past him as the geeky Eric in That 70’s Show.