Tag: Marc Webb

A new trailer for Marc Webb’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” is out, finally offering a good look at the film’s supervillain — the Lizard. In the comics, gifted scientist Dr. Curt Connors becomes the reptilian monster after injecting himself with lizard DNA in a limb regeneration experiment. As the Lizard, he longs for all humans to be transformed into super-reptiles. Connors (Rhys Ifans) might be after the same thing in the film, asking someone, presumably Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), “Are you ready to play God?” The trailer then shows the Lizard releasing billows of green gas into the air as a news announcer says, “There’s been a biological attack on New York City.” The trailer also gives fans a glimpse of some sweet Spidey gadgets. A quick scene reveals inventive Peter Parker’s trial-and-error process building the web-shooters. And a fancy gadget ...

Denis Leary blows through Hollywood job titles the way he used to chain-smoke cigarettes during his Boston comedy club days: actor, screenwriter, producer, author, television pitchman, animation voice actor and, believe it or not, fashion-show emcee and national anthem singer. The next Leary résumé line arrives July 3 with the release of “The Amazing Spider-Man.” “Emma Stone’s dad,” said Leary, referring to his role as the gruff, on-screen father to the film’s lead actress. “That’s the point in my career I’ve reached. It will be ‘Emma Stone’s dad’ now, which, by the way, I’m fine with being. She’s the real thing; she’s fantastic.” Stone, coming off roles in “The Help” and “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” plays Gwen Stacy, the girl who falls in love with Peter Parker, the brainy teenager who is spider-bit by fate and becomes the hard-luck title hero. ...

“The Amazing Spider-Man” swings into theaters in July 2012  and actor Rhys Ifans will play the film’s main menace, Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard, a laboratory creation that is both scary and scaly.  The 44-year-old native of Wales was in the news today: The Wrap reported that San Diego prosecutors won’t pursue a misdemeanor battery charge against him for allegedly shoving a guard just before his on-stage appearance at Comic-Con International (through a spokesman the actor has said he “deeply regretted” the incident). Our Geoff Boucher sat down with Ifans in San Diego (about an hour before the Comic-Con kerfuffle) and we’ll be posting parts of the interview in the weeks to come. GB: Marc Webb was a surprise pick to direct this film — his only other feature was “(500) Days of Summer” — but he has some bold ideas for taking Spider-Man into new areas on screen. How was the shoot for ...

Executives at Columbia Pictures  think they have a winner with their new web-spinner. “The Amazing Spider-Man” doesn’t reach theaters until July 3, 2012, but the studio has already locked in a May 2, 2014, release date for a sequel. A Columbia Pictures spokesman said the scheduling move “speaks volumes” about the superhero relaunch with director Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield, who are coming off of a winning appearance at Comic-Con International. There was considerable fan skepticism early on about the choice of Webb, who has directed only one feature film — the 2009 romantic comedy ”(500) Days of Summer” – and arrived on this project in the long shadow of Sam Raimi, whose three “Spider-Man” films earned close to $3.5 billion in worldwide box office and keyed billions more in home video, toys, licensing and video games. “The Amazing Spider-Man,” now in post-production, takes the Marvel Comics icon back to ...

Moviegoers have seen Spider-Man swing across Manhattan in three hit films already, but when the hero returns next July, there will be a big change in the webs he uses. The franchise’s aptly named new director, Marc Webb, is going back to the traditional comic-book portrayal in which the super strands are a product of web-shooter devices built by the young and inventive Peter Parker. When Sam Raimi took Spider-Man to the screen in 2002, he made a major departure from the classic mythology of the character by portraying the webbing as a organic substance created by Parker’s mutated biology. The move seemed to smartly streamline the origin but some purists complained that it tampered too much with tradition.  Webb says that when he took on the reboot project he wanted to go his own path, which meant breaking from the Raimi movies in places where it made sense — and when it came to ...

Footage from Sony’s upcoming slate of films — including a sequel to “Ghost Rider,” the comedy “30 Minutes or Less” and a remake of “Total Recall” — was all entertaining but served primarily as preamble to the main event at Sony’s Comic-Con panel Friday: “The Amazing Spider-Man.” After the teaser trailer was released this week to lukewarm reception, Sony was charged with wowing audiences with its reboot of the web-slinger franchise, this time directed by Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer”). The studio introduced its most precious brand with great theatrics: The music rumbled, emcee Ralph Garman from radio station KROQ-FM (106.7) encouraged everyone to put on their 3-D glasses, and then the audience started clapping as the room slowly darkened to unveil footage of one of Comic-Con’s biggest heroes. The trailer played well to the packed room, but it was ...

Playing Peter Parker’s high school tormentor, Flash Thompson, in the “The Amazing Spider-Man” was a “wonderful, wonderful experience,” actor Chris Zylka said at an event for his soon-to-be-released flick “Shark Night 3D” at a Comic-Con International event Wednesday night: “I got to work with a wonderful director. Marc [Webb] is a genius. He’s going to bring something new to the franchise, for sure, that I think people are going to love.” Zylka was joined by a host of cast members from “Shark Night 3D,” which hits theaters in September, at an event just outside the San Diego Convention Center. The party featured blood-colored drinks called “shark bites,” a ride-on inflatable shark (think mechanical bull) and a green-screen photo booth where guests could have themselves digitally inserted into an underwater cage from the movie. Zylka, who has also played high school bully ...

COMIC-CON 2011: “THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN” (FRIDAY, HALL H) The Columbia Pictures film “The Amazing Spider-Man” reaches theaters on July 3, 2012, with a lot of history to live up to — the trilogy of Spider-Man movies directed by Sam Raimi brought in close to $3.5 billion in worldwide box office and keyed billions more in home video, toys, licensing and video games. No one is more aware of that than Marc Webb, the 36-year-old music-video veteran who made his feature directorial debut with “(500) Days of Summer” in 2009 and was the surprise choice to direct this start-from-scratch version of the hero with new star Andrew Garfield. Webb and Garfield begin their conversation with fans on Friday at Comic-Con International, and the filmmaker spoke with our Geoff Boucher about the high stakes. GB: There’s so much history for this character, ...

At the Golden Globes last month, it was like a summit meeting for super-hero cinema. Robert Downey Jr. presented an award, strangely chipper and shaggy Christian Bale accepted one and Christopher Nolan sat near the stage not far from Anne Hathaway, who within a few days would be announced as the latest star to visit the filmmaker’s Gotham City. Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johannson were among the representatives of the Marvel universe, while the man who will soon change into the Hulk for Marvel, Mark Ruffalo, smiled and said he was pretty happy to be at a career juncture where he’ getting award nominations for mature fare like “The Kids Are All Right” but also ramping up for a green movement that will put his visage on Slurpee cups and the toy aisles of the world. “I’m just enjoying everything; it took me 20 years to get here ...

The new Spider-Man, looking battered down as only Peter Parker can. What’s your verdict? RECENT AND RELATED Dunst: The new Spidey cast has “lot to live up to” Garfield: I feel huge pressure Raimi: “I would have done everything differently” Is Kraven the next Spidey villain? Garfield: “Who cast this English fool? Maguire is genius” Should “Spider-Man” franchise stop at three? British heartthrob snares lead in Spidey film “500 Days” director Webb swings with Spidey Bono: Spidey musical is a career highlight VIDEO: U2 debuts “Spider-Man” song