A press conference in Tokyo to promote THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has provided us with some cryptic hints about what the superhero reboot will entail…
The panel — actors Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone alongside producers Avi Arad and Matthew Tolmach — exclusively revealed the film will open in Japan before anywhere else with a release date of June 30th 2012.
The question on everyone’s lips is how this reboot will differ from Sam Raimi’s original trilogy which ended in 2007.
‘In our movie, [Peter] finds his true love,’ said Arad. ‘Gwen Stacy was always the true love of Peter Parker… We found a very, very good story about what makes a human being. About what sets their destiny.’
The departure of Mary Jane and re-introduction of a very different Gwen Stacy has had fan-boys experiencing some mixed emotions. Praise be, there’s no more Kirsten Dunst to endure, but no Mary Jane at all? Don’t be so sure…
‘I’m playing Gwen Stacy who had been played brilliantly by Bryce Dallas Howard in the 3rd Spider-Man movie in Sam Raimi’s trilogy, but it was a completely different version of Gwen Stacy compared to this one. She wasn’t in high school, she wasn’t Peter’s first love, she was kind of coming between Mary Jane and Peter Parker… I mean, we haven’t even met Mary Jane at this point.’
When asked if the ‘iconic’ upside-down kiss from SPIDER-MAN would make a return, Stone commented:
‘You don’t want to know! You want to watch the movie and find out. Plus, it would be weird if we were like, “There’s something iconic coming up!” You’ve got to decide if it’s iconic or not. But there is a nice first kiss and it’s different than the upside down one. And we liked it.’
But that’s enough romance; here comes the villain — Rhys Ifan’s The Lizard — who may have a connection with Peter’s little-known parents.
‘We introduce our villain, Dr. Connors,’ said Arad, ‘and in the great tradition of Marvel, Dr. Connors is going to be connected to Peter Parker and, in our case even more interesting, to Gwen Stacy. Right there, the challenge of having to deal with a villain who is a mentor and the only one who you can look at and say, “So what really happened to my dad?” That’s a very hard person to fight.’
Though fight they will. Garfield detailed the extensive stunts seen in the film. (The Japanese audience were treated to exclusive action-packed footage which has yet to make its way online.)
‘As you can see, a lot of the stunts are practical and grounded in reality,’ he explained. ‘That was something that Marc, the director, really wanted to make sure happened in this movie to set it apart from previous ones… I would exhaust myself every day and get into near-death experiences every hour on the hour… I collaborated with [the stunt team] not only on the big stunt set-pieces but also on what happens to Peter’s body when he gets bitten. What happens to his DNA and how that effects the way he moves and the way he interacts with objects. The idea that he has spider DNA running in his system. What that will do to his sense of space. What that will do to the sensitivity of his skin. To have an opportunity to play in that forum with creative and talented people was a real opportunity and gift.’
You can view the press conference below but you might want to brush up on your Japanese…
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is directed by Marc Webb (I feel the opportunity for puns on his name have been wasted) and hits the US on July 3rd and the UK on July 4th.
Source: Coming Soon
