Malaysians Are Excited That Sarawak Plays A Significant Role In The New 'Venom' Movie
We need to talk about the "Malaysian village" though.
By Samantha Khor — 04 Oct 2018, 07:23 PM
It's been a long journey to the big screen for Venom, but the Marvel anti-hero's standalone film is finally in cinemas with British hottie Tom Hardy taking the lead
'Venom' marks the slippery Symbiote's first film outing without Spider-Man and is intended to kick off Sony's Marvel Universe, which is separate from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock a.k.a. Venom's human host alongside Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, Woody Harrelson, and Jenny Slate.
If you've already seen it, you'd notice the pretty cool surprise laying in wait for Malaysian moviegoers... 'coz the opening scene is set in East Malaysia!
[WARNING: Spoilers for the beginning of the movie ahead!]
The film opens with a LIFE Foundation rocket crashing into a forest, allowing one of the Symbiotes it was carrying to escape from its canister. It is later revealed that the forest is part of the fictional Hutan Simpanan Borneo (Borneo Forest Reserve), which is apparently located some miles away from Sibu, Sarawak.A female EMT officer (below), played by American actress and stuntwoman Michelle Lee, is also shown delivering some lines in Malay (with a slightly Indonesian accent).
In fact, those who've already seen it could hardly wait to express their excitement over the unexpected bit:
That's not the only scene set in Malaysia. Another key moment supposedly happens in a "Malaysian village" in Sarawak, although it looks more like a night market in Hong Kong from the early 20th century.
According to the film's production notes, the "Malaysian village" was built on a dirt lot in Georgia.
However, one could argue that the set design - complete with traditional Chinese lanterns and stalls with primarily Chinese characters - may not be typical of the night markets you'd see in Malaysia.
If you look closely, you'd notice that the back of the EMT officer's jacket also bears Chinese characters:
The last scene set in Sarawak takes place in what we presume is the Sibu Airport. While we don't have a still from that particular scene, the set design looks like it was modelled after the actual location before it was renovated:
An old photo of Sibu Airport before it was renovated from 2009 to 2012.
Image via Airports WorldwideAlthough the aforementioned scenes do not involve the main cast, we can tell you - without revealing too much - that the events in those scenes eventually lead up to the final showdown. ;)
