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Whilst much of the buzz surrounding upcoming superhero reboot The Amazing Spider-Man has revolved around Andrew Garfield’s new Spidey, he’s not the only Brit to have bagged himself a big role. Rhys Ifans is on villain duties as The Lizard, and he’s been telling MTV why his character is every bit as interesting as the web-slinger himself.
“The majority of comic book villains are pure evil, but Curt Connors is an exception," explains Ifans. "Curt Connors is a good man who initially wants to save the world but he gets hungry and greedy and reckless and he pays the price for that.”
He’s also a bit of a fanboy when it comes to the series as a whole, with Ifans arguing that Spider-Man is a much more relatable character than many of his superhero brethren.
“I just love the whole Spider-Man thing,” he says, “because Superman is so kind of godlike, he comes from another planet, Batman is this inaccessible, unapproachable millionaire, and Peter Parker is this schoolboy who's bullied and I think that's the kind of enduring appeal to that story. We can all relate to his bullying and the kind of flux that puberty induces in a young boy becoming a man.”
However, when quizzed as to rumours of a bond between his character and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey, Ifans wasn’t quite so forthcoming.
“Emma works with me. Emma's character Gwen Stacey is a student who works at my laboratory," he conceded. When MTV pushed for more details, the answer was a polite "no". "You don't want me to turn nine-foot-tall and green and covered in scales and lick your face until you die,” he laughs. Indeed not. The Amazing Spider-Man hits UK screens on 4 July 2012.
