Corona | Coming Attractions

Denis Leary (Ice Age, Rescue Me) has won the part of NYPD Captain George Stacy in the film, the father of Peter's love interest, Gwen Stacy. The character plays an important role in the comic book's continuity but whether Capt. Stacy's character will follow the same arc in the new Spider-Man movie remains unknown. [Full story]

Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog has two big Spider-Man casting scoops breaking this evening. According to the site, Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now, The West Wing) is in final negotiations to play Uncle Ben while Sally Field (Norma Ray, Brothers & Sisters) is in early talks to play Aunt May in Marc Webb's new Spider-Man movie.

The character of Uncle Ben is one fundamental to the origin of the superhero. In the comics and Sam Raimi movies, Cliff Robertson played the elderly father figure for young Peter Parker. Because Peter chose to not stop a petty criminal from escaping, that bad guy went on to fatally shoot Ben. Upon his uncle's death, Peter understood the immense responsibility that came with having great power.

The Wrap believes that they know which Spider-Man villain Rhys Ifans will be playing, and surprisingly, it's the same bad guy that was supposed to be the villain in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4.

The Lizard.

In the second and third of Sony's Spider-Man movies that Raimi helmed, Dylan Baker played the human side of the scaly creature, Dr. Curt Connors. Baker's cameos in those films were to lead up to him metamorphosizing into The Lizard in the fourth Spider-Man film before the studio decided to reboot the superhero franchise.

Rhys Ifans has been cast as the villain in Spider-Man. But which character the Welsh-born actor will be playing is being kept a secret by the studio.

"What sets the Spider-Man villains apart is the complexity of their relationships with Peter Parker. Rhys' incredible ability to embody both warmth and rage makes him the ideal choice for this character," said Spider-Man director Marc Webb in a statement released by the studio today.

Ifans played the part of Spike in Notting Hill. He'll be next seen next month in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and then next year in Anonymous.

"After seeing his performance in our upcoming film Anonymous, we're in awe of his talent and think he's the perfect choice to take on this role," added Matt Tolmach, the president of Sony Pictures.

Emma Stone has officially been hired to play a part in Spider-Man but it's not as the character everyone assumed the redhead would be. Stone will star in the movie as Gwen Stacy, the first love of Peter Parker when he was in high school. Stacy was a blonde in the comics and she will also be a blonde in the movie.

"The chemistry between Andrew and Emma was stunning and made Emma the clear choice," said Marc Webb, the movie's director. "At the heart of the story of Peter Parker is not only the amazing Spider-Man, but also an ordinary teenager who is wondering what he has to do to get the girl. Andrew and Emma will bring everything audiences expect to these roles, but also make them their own. Much to my surprise, it was fun to find out that our choice for Gwen (Emma) is also a natural blonde."

Deadline is reporting that Emma Stone is being offered the part of the new Mary-Jane Watson this weekend, having beat out the other candidates for the role. If true, that would leave the other major female part still open, the one for Gwen Stacy.

Emma Stone (Easy A, Zombieland) is up for one of the two main female roles in Spider-Man, Variety has learned. And it's not for the part of Mary-Jane Watson, which runs against what one might expect since the character and Stone are both redheads.

Also in the running for the roles are Teresa Palmer (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Lily Collins (The Blind Side).

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Andrew Garfield gets asked the big question on all our minds: what's it feel like being selected as the new Spider-Man? Garfield's answers show that the afterglow from landing the job hasn't faded yet.

THR: Have you been prepping for Spider-Man?

GARFIELD: I have been waiting for this phone call for 24 years, for someone to call me up and say, "Hey, we want you to pretend to be a character that you've always wanted to be all your life, and we're going to do it with cool cameras and cool effects and you're going to feel like you're swinging through New York City. Do you want to do that?" [laughs] "Let me just consult with my seven-year old self and see what he thinks..." So my seven-year-old self started screaming in my soul and saying, This is what we've been waiting for. Like every young boy who feels stronger on the inside than they look on the outside, any skinny boy basically who wishes their muscles matched their sense of injustice, God, it's just the stuff that dreams are made of, for sure. It's a true f**king honor to be part of this symbol that I actually think is a very important symbol and it's meant a great deal to me, and it continues to mean something to people. So yeah, I feel like I've been preparing for it for a while. Ever since Halloween when I was four years old and I wore my first Spider-Man costume.

THR: What's your approach to wrapping your brain around the coming shift in terms of your increased visibility with Spider-Man?

GARFIELD: Not to give it credence, not to give it any of my energy. Just approach it like any other job that I care about deeply. That may be naive of me to think that I can just get away with that. But if you give focus to something, it will grow. I just want to be an actor, really. And of course all those things came into consideration when I was making the decision. But at the end of the day, I had faith that I would be able to not be defined by it. And I still have faith that I will be able to get lost in roles and just keep doing what I love to do.

THR: Have you gotten any advice about how to balance it?

GARFIELD: I've witnessed other friends go through it, so I'm aware of the pitfalls, for sure. So I already feel as prepared as I can be, and also no advice can really prepare you for something so visceral.

THR: Is there any other prep work you'll need to do? Will you need to change your physicality or do training?

GARFIELD: I'm sure there will be a bunch of that, yeah. Flexibility is my main focus right now. Making sure that I can be as flexible as possible. It's all kind of starting up so I haven't really got much to say about it.

Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog has two sizeable scoops about the new Spider-Man movie. First, they claim that the character of Mary-Jane Watson, who has been the main love interest and female lead for the last three Spider-Man movies, is not in the present draft of Marc Webb's picture.

Naturally, this opens the door for speculation as to who the main female character in the movie will be. Peter Parker and Spider-Man have had many different love interets before the redhaired MJ became his main squeeze, such as Betty Brant (the receptionist at the Daily Bugle); Felicia Hardy (a.k.a. the Black Cat); Gwen Stacy (Peter's first love) and many others.

Heat Vision then gives the names of five young actresses being presently considered for the female lead role: Lilly Collins (The Blind Side), Imogen Poots (Fright Night), Ophelia Lovibond (Nowhere Boy), Teresa Palmer (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) and Emma Roberts (Scream 4).

The latest rumor du jour is that Inglorious Basterds bad guy Christoph Waltz is being considered to play the villain role in the new Spider-Man film. Ganz, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Nazi SS officer Hans Landa, just finished working in The Green Hornet, and in that superhero film he's playing the bad guy. Would Waltz want to play two comic book villains in back-to-back projects?

In an update to his story about the casting of Andrew Garfield in Sony's reboot of Spider-Man, Deadline's Michael Fleming was told that all of the actors up for the main role were informed by Marvel/Sony that the pay would only be $500,000 for the first film, as well as salary options of $1 million for a second movie and $2 million for a third film.

According to unconfirmed (but generally believed to be accurate) rumors that circulated at the time of production for 2002's Spider-Man, actor Tobey Maguire was paid $4 million dollars at the time to play the part of Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

26-year-old Andrew Garfield has been revealed as the new Peter Parker / Spider-Man. In a press conference held at a Sony Pictures publicity event in Cancun, Mexico, Spider-Man producers Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad and director Marc Webb unveiled the new face of the hit superhero movie franchise. [Full story]

Showbiz 411 reports that Michael Fassbender is up for two major roles in new Marvel movies. In the first he's being courted to play the younger X-Men villain Magneto in X-Men: First Class. In the second, he's up for the part of the villain in the new Spider-Man.

The problem is this: both pictures plan on shooting at the same time so Fassbender can't star in both. It may come down to the Inglourious Basterds actor having to make a decision as to which Marvel supervillain he wants to play.

Alvin Sargent is giving a polish to Jamie Vanderbilt's screenplay. Sargent is the fellow that's worked on every Spider-Man movie made by Columbia Pictures so far. He was writing Spider-Man 4 when Sony pulled the plug on it. He's also married to Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin.

While the speculation over whether Logan Lerman is or isn't the frontrunner to play the new Spider-Man simmers in the background, another new candidate's name has been added to the speculation pile. He is Josh Hutcherson and his most memorable role is as Brendan Fraser's nephew in Journey to the Center of the Earth and most recently starred in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant.

The report comes from IESB who states that Hutcherson's name is now on Sony's Spider-Man short list.