Kraven the Hunter (film)

The Marvel Comics character Kraven the Hunter was attempted to be adapted in director Sam Raimi's fourth Spider-Man film before the film was cancelled in 2010 in favor of rebooting the franchise.[9] Sony Pictures announced plans in December 2013 for their film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) to establish a shared universe—inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)—based on the Marvel properties they held the rights to.[10] Kraven the Hunter was teased in that film,[11] with its director Marc Webb expressing interest in seeing the character appear on film.[12] In February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios announced a new partnership to co-produce the film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), and integrate the Spider-Man character with Marvel's MCU.[13] Sony announced their own shared universe, "Sony's Spider-Man Universe",[14] in May 2017.[15] Sony intended this to be "adjunct" to their MCU Spider-Man films,[16] featuring Spider-Man related properties beginning with Venom (2018).[15] The studio was considering a Kraven film for the universe.[17] While developing the MCU film Black Panther (2018), director Ryan Coogler had hoped to include Kraven in the film because of a scene in Christopher Priest's Black Panther comic book run that had T'Challa / Black Panther fighting Kraven, but Marvel Studios notified Coogler that Sony had the film rights for Kraven so they did not have the permission to use him in other MCU films.[18]

Richard Wenk was hired to write a screenplay for Kraven the Hunter in August 2018, a month after the successful release of Sony's The Equalizer 2, which he wrote. The project was billed as "the next chapter" of Sony's shared universe.[2][19] Wenk was tasked with introducing Kraven to audiences and figuring out which character he could hunt in the film since Spider-Man, considered to be Kraven's "white whale" in the comic books, was unlikely to appear due to the MCU deal. Whether the film would target adult audiences would depend on the audience response to Venom's darker approach.[2] In October, Wenk said he was "cracking" the story and tone of the film before beginning scripting. He intended to adhere to the character's comic book lore, including by featuring Kraven fighting Spider-Man. Wenk said Sony intended to adapt the Kraven's Last Hunt comic book storyline, and there were ongoing discussions over whether to do that in this film or a later one. Wenk compared the latter approach to the two-part film Kill Bill. He expressed interest in having Equalizer director Antoine Fuqua join the film; Fuqua considered directing Sony's Marvel-based film Morbius (2022), and would decide on directing Kraven based on the script.[20] Sony confirmed that a film featuring Kraven was in development in March 2019.[21]

Jon Watts, director of Homecoming and its sequel Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), expressed interest in featuring Kraven in a potential third Spider-Man film set within the MCU;[22] Watts pitched a film pitting Peter Parker / Spider-Man against Kraven to Spider-Man star Tom Holland, but this idea was abandoned in favor of the story of Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).[23] By August 2020, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway had re-written the script, after doing uncredited rewrites for Morbius.[24][25] At that time, J. C. Chandor entered talks to direct the film, while Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad were set as producers.[24] Chandor was confirmed as director in May 2021, when Aaron Taylor-Johnson was cast to star as Kraven.[1] Sony had previously approached actors such as Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves, John David Washington, and Adam Driver for the role,[26] but Sony executives moved quickly to cast Taylor-Johnson after they were "blow[n] away" by early footage of him in the film Bullet Train (2022). Taylor-Johnson began negotiations shortly after an initial phone call with Chandor.[27][28] By July, Jodie Turner-Smith was reportedly in talks to portray Kraven's love interest, Calypso.[29] That October, Holland said he and Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in the film.[30]

Russell Crowe was cast in an undisclosed role in early February 2022. The Hollywood Reporter noted that many of the main characters in the film would be members of Kraven's family, with Crowe potentially portraying Kraven's father.[5] By then, Kodi Smit-McPhee had been offered the role of Chameleon, Kraven's half-brother, but declined due to a scheduling conflict.[31] Turner-Smith was also confirmed to have not been cast as Calypso.[32] Later in February, Fred Hechinger joined the cast, reportedly as Chameleon.[6] In March, Ariana DeBose joined the cast, reportedly in the Calypso role,[7] Alessandro Nivola was cast as a villain,[4] and Christopher Abbott was cast as the film's main villain, which was reported to be the Foreigner.[3] Taylor-Johnson was preparing for stunt training with Chandor in England, just outside of London, for the following couple of weeks.[33]

Principal photography began on March 20, 2022,[34] in London, England,[35] with Ben Davis serving as cinematographer after doing so for several MCU films.[36] Levi Miller joined the cast in April.[8]