Mr Sandman

It’s the worst-kept secret in Hollywood, particularly in light of Kirsten Dunst’s loose-lipped blabbing: Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace are playing the nasties making Peter Parker’s life a misery in Spider-Man 3 as, respectively, The Sandman and Venom.

So Spider-Man studio Sony Pictures has decided to start putting the details out before a crafty paparazzi or studio leak can ruin the look of Church as Flint Marko, aka Sandman.

In the comic, Marko is a member of the New York criminal underworld, tortured by thoughts that he might one day get to go straight and get married. But when his girlfriend leaves him for another man while he’s locked up, Marko brutally slaughters the man. On the run from the FBI, he hides out near a nuclear test site and... You can guess the rest. The massive dose of radiation leaves him able to turn his body into a shape-shifting, sand-like substance. Thus, the Sandman is born.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.