The whispers around town indicate that Spider-Man 4 writer Gary Ross is currently in discussions with Sony to write, and maybe even direct their planned spin-off movie, Venom. The movie has already had multiple drafts written, including one from Zombieland writing team Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.

Ross plans to finish up his scrip for Spidey 4 and then move right into the Venom project. All indications so far is that all things we’ve seen from the character will be thrown away, and that this movie will start all over again — including re-casting the role once filled by Topher Grace in the forgettable Spider-Man 3.

Gary Ross hasn’t written a ton of things, but what he has done are all pretty fairly well-known and respected works. His credits include the Tom Hanks classic, Big; presidential comedy, Dave; the Tobey Maguire double-feature of Pleasantville and Seabiscuit (which will help with Spider-Man 4); and the upcoming monster movie reboot, Creature from the Black Lagoon.

No word yet on how long we’ll have to wait for a Venom movie to come along, but if they do it right and make it nice and dark, it will surely be worth the patience. Spider-Man 4 is currently set for a release on May 6, 2011 and as MTV Splash Page just learned, director Sam Raimi hopes to begin filming by March of 2010.

[Source: Variety]