Peggy Lu is the shining star of the ‘Venom’ trilogy

The third and possibly final Venom film, The Last Dance, takes Eddie far away from San Francisco, but a detour to Vegas sees the absconding journalist and his alien pal run into Mrs. Chen at the slot machines. It's a one-in-a-million coincidence—though as contrived as it may be, it's entirely welcome, given how delightfully the trio's dynamic has bloomed since 2018. It's just as to-the-point as movies entries ago, and yet, there's genuine affection between them, making Mrs. Chen a highlight of the trilogy. Superhero movies are so rarely focused on real people these days—a secret ingredient of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man films from the early 2000s—so sitting down with Lu to get her take on things became a top priority soon after watching the film. It should come as no surprise that much of what she has to say focuses on her dynamic with Hardy.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Siddhant Adlakha: I'm so glad that Mrs. Chen got to have "the last dance" with Venom and Eddie. Was it fun getting to be dressed up and fancy, and just let loose?
Peggy Lu: The choreographer is Jennifer White, the same choreographer from Barbie. We met over Zoom just to get to know each other, and to tell her my injuries. My ACL has been replaced on my left knee. I barely have any meniscus left, so my knee has a tendency to go sideways, instead of forwards and backwards. So she adjusted a lot of the moves to compensate for my knee. And because the dance was kind of chopped up, you didn't get to see [all of] her beautiful choreography. She trained me for a month when we went to London. We trained every day for six hours. And because I'm not a dancer, my arms had to be straight, but sometimes I noticed my arm was bent, little things like that. And I forgot to point my toes, which is not natural for me at all.

SA: No dance background for you prior to this?
PL: No. Well, except the dance classes that you take at the gym. That's it.

SA: Well, glad to see Mrs. Chen back. Hopefully we get to see her again someday in the future. But let's talk about you.
PL: I was made in Taiwan, and my parents moved to America for a better education for me. My parents had so much faith in me. I had a tutor ever since I was in kindergarten, just to learn the multiplication table, but I still suck at math. I'm still counting with my fingers, and I know I'm the only Asian that sucks in math. So, fast forward and then I get to college. When I was a sophomore in college, I met a girl at the cafeteria. And of course the first question [in college] is, "Oh, what's your major? What's your major?" And of course, I was pre-med, right? And then she said she was a theater major. I didn't even know such a thing existed. Who would've thought that there was a theater major? So then, I called my parents and I go, "Oh, I think I figured out what I want to do. I'm going to be an actor."

SA: I've had that conversation with my parents as well. I know how it goes.
PL: "Hell no. No, no, no, no, no." And then after a few negotiations, they say, "Okay, well, you've got to finish college. Not just the regular four years. You have to come out with a doctoral degree. It has to be Peggy Lu, comma, doctor-of-something." So that's how it all got started.

SA: During those initial years figuring out acting, what was it that drew you to the art form?
PL: The freedom. It's so unlike math and science, which are very definitive. One plus one is always two, r2. It's always that. But then, art forms are subjective. It's so much inner work as well. And you're connecting with the nature of the environment, and finding out who you are, it's such a huge journey. It's an endless journey, getting to know oneself, to love oneself, to accept oneself for who we are.

SA: What is acting to you?
PL: My acting coach in New York said it best. It's like water. You're like water. The goal is to be like water. Water is the only thing in the entire universe that could be put into any container, and it becomes the shape of the container. It could be a square, it could be a triangle, it could be anything you want it to be. And when she said that to me, it opened up infinite knowledge, just that one simple phrase: "Just be water. Just be water." And it also helps you in daily life, to go with the flow. And finally, I'm slowly getting it. "Oh, just go with the flow." Why do you have to fight against the current? Why make it so hard on yourself? Which I often do.

SA: How do you make it hard on yourself?
PL: By fighting against the current. I'm going to give you an example: Before I met with Tom Hardy. Nervous wreck meets A-list actor. This is back in 2018. And he was like, "Peggy Lu?" from nowhere. And of course, there's so much fear and insecurity that kicks in when you're working with someone so well known in the industry. I got on set before he did, I was running lines by myself, talking to the wall, and then he comes behind me, taps me on the shoulder, turns me around, gives me a hug. And then he said, "Hi, I'm Tom Hardy"—with his last name—"Tom Hardy. I'm in your scene."

SA: He's in your scene?
PL: Yes. He made it about me. He did not come up with an entourage. He was just him by himself. And he was so cool, so relaxed when he introduced himself. And I jokingly said, "Who?"

SA: That sounds so much like Mrs. Chen and Eddie's relationship.
PL: Yeah, I think our personal relationship is a parallel to what you see on screen. He was so down-to-earth, and I could have just flowed with him, but no. After I said "Who?" you know what he did? He repeated his name. "Tom Hardy." And I said, "Duh!" Can you imagine what Tom was thinking?

SA: What do you think he was thinking?
PL: "Whoa, whoa, what's up with this chick? Within a timeframe of what, five or 10 seconds, she spits out two words. 'Who' and 'duh.'" First impressions are the most important thing.

SA: And now it's six years later, and Mrs. Chen is right up there with Eddie and Venom as the through line of this whole series.
PL: And that's thanks to Tom, he's so generous. Because of what he did back in 2018, it just set the tone for everything, and it calmed me down. I became the water. Now I'm flowing with him, not against the current in my head, fighting against myself. So I just went with the Tom Hardy current, and everything just became so easy. If you remember in Venom one, when we improvised in Chinese, that was his idea, not my idea. I'm the one that speaks Chinese! And he says, "Hey, man, wouldn't it be fun if we just improvised in Chinese?" And I think he could sense my nervousness and my insecurity, so he asked me if I wanted to run lines. I will always remember the warmth that he extended to me. He sensed my fear, no judgment, nothing. He just tried to help me relax as much as he possibly could. And I'm sure he thought, "Hey, maybe if we improvise in Chinese, you could be more relaxed."

SA: Did that sense of relaxation allow you to be a little more of a hard-ass as the character?
PL: And to be more present. I could drop into the character, and then just be present and play off of him while not being so nervous about staying in my head. The more we played, the more comfortable I got. But you can only be as comfortable as the people in your scene, and in the work environment you're in. So it either breaks you, or it lifts you up completely.

SA: We also get a sense of what the routine is between these characters, even though we're meeting them for the first time. It almost feels like they have this history.
PL: Could you tell? Because I already made a fool out of myself. So, how hard could it be? I think because of that initial discomfort in the first encounter that I had with him, we became friends.

SA: By the time we get to the second film, we get to see you speak as Venom symbiote as well.
PL: Tom made that so easy for me. He gave me an earpiece, and then he would say one line, and I would follow his voice and his tone one line at a time. So, I didn't have to think so far ahead, or try to catch up, or whatever's going on in my brain. I could just be in the present moment. You don't think about this stuff until someone's being considerate.

SA: It sounds like Tom Hardy created a welcoming space for you. What kind of space do you want to create for yourself going forward?
PL: I would love to be like Tom Hardy, where he can do those really serious dramas, and then he turns on the comedy. Now, for me to get an Oscar, I would need to do more drama. Hint hint.