Talk about an out-of-left-field pick.

Andy Serkis has reportedly met with Sony Pictures about directing Venom 2. The first Venom was directed by Ruben Fleischer but is not returning. Serkis flew to Los Angeles for meetings set by Sony brass earlier this week. He is one of several filmmakers in the mix, sources say, as Sony carefully weighs who will direct the follow-up to a movie that made $856 million at the global box office.

Serkis is best known for being a pioneer in the motion capture side of acting, portraying Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy from 2002 to 2004. He reprised the role in Jackson’s prequel trilogy The Hobbit, where he also got experience with second unit directing.

The actor made his directorial debut with the 2017 drama Breathe. He also helmed the take on the Rudyard Kipling stories Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, which ended up on Netflix after being made at Warner Bros. Venom 2 is expected to have a high reliance on visual effects, and most likely motion capture (both with the character of Venom and the villain Carnage).

Kelly Marcel wrote the script for the sequel, which is expected to bring back Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, and Woody Harrelson as Cletus Kasday/Carnage.

Source: THR Heat Vision Newsletter