Rhys Ifans to be Spider-Man Villain

Welsh actor Rhys Ifans has been cast as the lead villain in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. The identity of said villain is as-yet unannounced, but looks likely to be either Green Goblin or Venom, both of whom appeared in Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Director Marc Webb said “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.”

Ifans’ name has been added to a cast that already includes Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, two potential break-out stars of this year with their respective films The Social Network and Easy A.

Emma Stone to be MJ in Spider-Man

It turns out this whole thing is rubbish, Emma Stone will be playing Gwen Stacy, formerly played by Bryce Dallas Howard. Disappointed.

The big news as I woke up this morning was that Emma Stone is almost a certainty to be cast as Mary-Jane Watson in Marc Webb’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot. This is excellent news. Not only does she have the right look for MJ, but she has the ability to play this kind of character. We have seen many sides of her in movies like Zombieland and Superbad and she seems, without wanting to resort to hyperbole, perfect to play this role. She can do action, she can be funny, she’s obviously a lovely-looking young lady AND she’s not a pathetic, limp charisma vacuum like Kirsten Dunst was.

I’m very excited for the new Spider-Man movie; Marc Webb made one of my favourite movies of last year in (500) Days of Summer, Emma Stone is almost a certainty to be cast, and it’s frickin’ Spider-Man! I haven’t seen anything of Andrew Garfield – the new Peter Parker – as yet, but that will change when The Social Network is finally released over here. Visually though, he seems to be a decent choice.

The news about Emma Stone leaves Mia Wasikowska, Dianna Agron, Georgina Haig and Dominique McElligot as the possible choices to play Gwen Stacy. Wasikowska is perhaps better known as Alice in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland; Dianna Agron should be well known to Glee fans (of which I am not one); Georgina Haig has just two feature film credits to her name, and doesn’t even have her date of birth on the IMDb and Dominique McElligot is recognisable only as Sam Rockwell’s wife in Duncan Jones’ Moon. Based purely on looks, I would give this role to Georgina Haig. I have no idea if she is a good actress, but she looks like Gwen Stacy.

Marc Webb’s Spider-Man reboot will begin shooting in December of this year and will be released on July 3rd 2012.