Our craving for Kraven the Hunter is still strong here at The Cosmic Circus. Over the past few weeks, there have been promising updates about the direction of the film and the expanding Sony Spiderverse. On Monday at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, attendees got their first peek at Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven (see @WGretPowerBook’s brief description)
There was very short #KravenTheHunter footage in the sizzle. ATJ hanging onto that car and then punching a windshield. Then, Kraven running through snow. Very little. Title treatment too. Should be online soon.
— With Great Power Book (@WGreatPowerBook) April 26, 2022
The teaser is intriguing in so many ways! While we wait to see if Sony puts the footage online, I’ll break down some of what the attendees reportedly saw. There are two particularly newsy bits from the snippet: 1) the first look at Aaron Taylor-Johnson in “costume,” and 2) driving through the snow. We are also able to confirm a new working title for Kraven The Hunter and reveal the costume designer for the flick.
First look at Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven
A few weeks ago, JustJared snagged the first photos of Aaron Taylor-Johnson in costume as Kraven the Hunter. There are two distinct looks in the Just Jared pictures. It appears that CinemaCon attendees saw scenes featuring one of these looks. So let’s analyze them. (Images available on Just Jared)
Aaron Taylor-Johnson was spotted filming an intense action scene today in London's Hyde Park. Could it be for #KravenTheHunter? See the photos! https://t.co/ZUrz6SfQJg
— JustJared.com (@JustJared) April 22, 2022
One has Taylor-Johnson in a formal outfit – black dress pants with a white dress shirt. He’s wearing the fake barefoot shoes that Chris Evans notably sported while doing action scenes for the first Captain America film.
Completing that costume is a large animal tooth or claw necklace on a black cord. The barefoot with formal wear look is like what we saw on a stuntman who was filming in March. The second look in the photo set has Taylor-Johnson in a black t-shirt with military cargo pants, that same necklace, and a nifty brown leather bracelet.
Neither of these looks is the loud Kraven costume from the comics. Indeed, if you look at them, nothing screams, “That’s so Kraven!” For example, there’s a distinct lack of clashing furry animal print, but there are nods to his iconic look. And from what we’ve seen so far, these looks achieve an overall vibe of menacing bounty hunter/spy, which works for the hunt-obsessed villainous character.
The CinemaCon footage featured some of the epic chase scene where Kraven clings to a black minivan as it races through downtown traffic.
Kraven’s costume designer revealed
Our research has revealed that Sammy Sheldon Differ is the costume designer for Kraven the Hunter. Louise Burrows, Kraven’s costume illustrator, has a note on her website with the details about the upcoming film. On that note, she says she’s working as the illustrator with Differ as the costume designer.
Sheldon Differ has incredible credits behind her, including the Eternals and the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Last year, she did an interview with Elite Daily, where she spoke about her creative process when costuming.
“It’s quite elemental,” she says of her creative process. “I love to work in that way where I break things down into a color theory, or some element, whether it be a mineral or a tree. There is always an element of organicness, putting that into the makeup of the character that you’re creating.”
– Sammy Sheldon Differ in Elite Daily, 10/18/2021
These looks we’ve seen certainly fit within the frameworks Sammy Sheldon Differ has established. Let’s consider the animal tooth necklace. In the comics, Kraven has at times worn an animal tooth necklace. Typically, the necklaces have more teeth, though, as shown below.
The comic Kraven costume also has cuffs – they are usually animal print or a more extended brown strapped leather version that acts like a quasi-sleeve over the hunter’s hands. Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s military outfit has a shorter brown leather strapped bracelet on one arm in the set photos.
“Safari” is a confirmed working title + Iceland filming
We can finally confirm that another working title for Kraven is indeed “Safari.” In February, we found evidence of a massive “Marvel” film shoot in Iceland. That project was codenamed “Safari,” and we speculated that it could be Kraven or even Ant-Man. Recently we found through our sources that “Safari” is indeed Kraven the Hunter. So we now know of two working titles for the project – “Safari” and an earlier working title “Spiral.”
In our report from February, we noted that a company called Truenorth Productions applied for the permits in Iceland. We couldn’t find a project title at the time, but the Truenorth website has been recently updated with a new production project.
Adding to our working title confirmation and the new detail on the Truenorth client page, the movie’s IMDB has a listing for a “second assistant director” on the Iceland unit – Kriss Didriks. (Hat tip to @KravenSource on Twitter for spotting this.) In the past, Didriks has worked with Truenorth on other projects.
IMDB is not always accurate but taken with our working title confirmation and our earlier report about the mysterious filming, a picture starts to emerge that Kraven was indeed filming in February in Iceland.
The CinemaCon attendees reportedly saw Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven running through the snow. This is exciting-and since it hasn’t been snowing in London where filming has happened so far. The Iceland production is a good guess at some of that footage composition. However, we’re not sure if ATJ was actually in the country, or if he did the shots in a studio with VFX merging the studio and Lake Mývatn film.
Kraven? I’ve never heard of him
Kraven the Hunter is a member of the dastardly Spider-man villains known as the Sinister Six. This film is his origin story and is said to cover how the big game hunting villain gets his supernatural abilities. The movie has been in the works for several years. There were even rumors that the original plan for Spiderman: No Way Home included Kraven, but alas, those were scrapped, and instead, we got several other villains. Spiderman: No Way Home did drop a fairly huge Kraven hint towards the movie’s end. He appears to be visible in the line of villains threatening to break through the multiverse.
Aaron-Taylor Johnson is the only member of the cast that we’ve seen in costume or filming so far, even with that sneak peek from CinemaCon. Australian actor Levi Miller of Pan fame recently joined the cast in an unknown role. Otherwise, Kraven the Hunter movie includes Fred Hechinger as the Chameleon, Ariana DeBose as Calypso, Christopher Abbott as the Foreigner, and Russell Crowe in an unknown role.
Kraven the Hunter is expected to be released next January in theaters. J.C. Chandor is directing the picture, and the writing credit goes to Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk.
What about the tease shown at CinemaCon? How about the new casting announcements? Are you excited about the Kraven the Hunter movie? Please share your thoughts on Twitter @MyCosmicCircus or in the comments below.
Sources: Elite Daily interview with Sammy Sheldon Differ / Louise Burrows – Costume Illustrator – About Page
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