The Amazing Spider-Man: The Complete “Untold Story Begins” Event

As you are probably aware, the upcoming summer blockbuster THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN kicked off what is likely to be an all-encompassing marketing campaign this evening, with audiences gathering in Rio de Janeiro, New York, Los Angeles and our very own London to see brand new footage from the film, as well as getting some choice words from some of those involved in its making. THN was at the Vue cinema in Leicester Square, where a line had been forming for a respectable amount of time in the newly snow-free City.

For those not in the know, director Marc Webb (of (500) DAYS OF SUMMER fame) is helming the latest adaptation of the Spider-Man story to the big screen. Starring Andrew Garfield, fresh from the dual successes of NEVER LET ME GO and THE SOCIAL NETWORK in 2010, as the titular superhero, the film aims to shed new light on the character’s background and persona; to be expected, seeing as the film is following on relatively closely from Sam Raimi’s trilogy (featuring Tobey Maguire in the iconic suit) that left fans divided upon its conclusion in 2007’s SPIDER-MAN 3. The new film will dwell more decisively on Peter Parker’s attempts to untangle the mysteries surrounding his own past, as well as that of his parents.

Aside from Garfield, the film also features Emma Stone (THE HELP, EASY A) as Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy; Rhys Ifans (ANONYMOUS, MR. NICE) as the villainous Dr. Curt Conners, who later becomes classic Spider-Man villain The Lizard; Martin Sheen (THE WAY) and Sally Field (BROTHERS AND SISTERS) as Parker’s Uncle Ben and Aunt May; and Denis Leary (RESCUE ME) as Police Captain George Stacy, Gwen’s father, eager to bring down Spider-Man’s vigilante brand of justice. Naturally, Spider-Man co-creator and Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee will be making a cameo appearance as well.

The event kicks off with the beaming face of actor Ralph Garman adorning the cinema screen, live from Los Angeles, welcoming all those in attendance Los Angeles, as well as introducing director Marc Webb, dressed in his characteristic hoodie, to the crowd. Webb looks very pleased to be here, eager to show off his film; however, he first takes us to the other events happening around the world, starting with Rio. Host Roberto Sadovski introduces Emma Stone, as well as producers Matt Tolmach and Avi Arad (who Tolmach claims “knows more about Spider-Man than anybody in the world this side of Stan Lee,” much to the probable chagrin of some of the more die-hard fans in attendance worldwide tonight). Stone thanks the crowd, then throws over to us in London, where the audience makes an ungodly amount of noise to compete with its counterparts overseas. When noise levels go down, Chris Hewitt introduces himself as well as Britain’s own Rhys Ifans, who says a jovial hello to all present with his endearing Welsh drawl. Finally we bounce over to New York City, fresh from their Superbowl victory, where a man named Josh introduces Andrew Garfield to the crowd gathered there.

Next up is the latest official trailer for the film, in exquisite 3D (which Webb is keen to stress was filmed using actual 3D cameras, and not a post-process). It looks fantastic, managing to find a perfect blend between the youthful vibrancy the character demands, and the darker tone needed to bring some depth and gravitas to the film itself. Later on more footage is shown, and the trailer doesn’t show anything that isn’t featured within that, so I’ll discuss the content there. Suffice it to say, the film looks like a treat. The trailer is set to be released to the world at midnight on Tuesday, Pacific Time.

Garman and Webb are back on the screen, and Webb says a few words on how this film stands apart from those that have come before:

“I think there’s a lot of things from the Spider-Man that haven’t been yet explored, cinematically. This movie really starts off with Peter Parker and his parents, which is something we’ve never really seen before and I think that was something we were all really interested in exploring as filmmakers: how that impacts Peter, both in terms of the narrative and in terms of the emotional consequence of what it means to be an orphan. So that was something that was really interesting. Then we have the Gwen Stacy saga, which, if anybody is familiar with the Spider-Man comics, there’s something really extraordinary at work there that we wanted to explore which I think is really fun and has a lot of magic that’s going to come through with that. And then, of course, there’s the Lizard, Dr. Curt Conners, who is one of my favourite villains in the comics, and those were elements that all gave us a lot to work with when we were creating the film. Not to mention that we wanted to treat Peter Parker in a more realistic, naturalistic kind of way.”

Garman then throws it over to Rio, where Stone talks about the differences between Gwen Stacy’s character and the character of Mary Jane Watson, who featured prominently in the Raimi trilogy:

“Well, Gwen is pretty much the yin to Mary Jane’s yang; they’re polar opposites in almost every way. Gwen is the valedictorian, from a pretty affluent family and she has a really great relationship with her father, which is pretty much the opposite of Mary Jane’s situation. Also, Gwen falls in love with Peter Parker, and I think Mary Jane kind of falls in love with Spider-Man, which is a little bit of a different thing. So yeah, there’s a lot there that’s different.”

Sadovski then hands over to us in Blighty once again, where Ifans talks about what sets The Lizard apart from other Spider-Man villains:

“Well I think, with the whole Spider-Man story, what I enjoy about all of Spider-Man’s villains is that they are kind of human and real, and flawed, as much as Peter Parker is. But I think particularly with Dr. Curtis Connors, what makes him have a more emotional presence in Peter Parker’s life is that he was very close to Peter’s father. So that makes Peter’s relationship with Dr. Conners a very complex and emotional one. That’s all I’ve got to say [laughs].”

We are then returned to New York, where Garfield talks about why he wanted to play the role of Spider-Man:

“Because I’m not an idiot [laughs]. It’s the thing that everyone wants; everyone in this room wants it. And it belongs to everyone in this room, it doesn’t belong to me; and I really mean that. The more of these kinds of events I go to, the more I realise that. I mean I’m terrified right now, it’s so overwhelming to be representing this symbol, because that’s all I am, the guy in the suit, and it could be anyone in the suit. It just happens to be me this time, and before it was Tobey, and next time hopefully it will be a half-Hispanic, half-African American actor [appreciative stir from the crowd members who know what he’s talking about]. So, you know, just because it means so much to me, for the same reason it means anything to anyone; they all get it.”

Finally we come back to Los Angeles, where Webb entices the crowd with more footage:

“We have a little sizzle-reel we put together. Now, we shot the movie entirely in 3D, the real good actual big fat cameras 3D, but what we’re going to show you now, we still have to converge that and put the two eyes together. So I’m going to show you this in 2D because it’s a little early on, and some of the effects might not be all polished, but I want to give you, the fans, a little access, a little behind the scenes.”

The lights go down, and a scene at Midtown High School comes up, with school bully Flash Thompson (played by THE SECRET CIRCLE’s Chris Zylka) tormenting a kid, to the chants of the other pupils in the schoolyard. Peter attempts to stop him, which results in him receiving a punch in the face. Later, he humiliates Flash in school, to the disappointment of Uncle Ben. Sheen lends a warmth and folksiness to the role, and complements Garfield’s performance as the occasionally stubborn Peter. We also see Peter ask out Gwen, with Stone giving an effectively understated performance, juxtaposing Parker’s awkwardness at the situation. It feels a lot more genuine and natural than Peter’s first attempts at talking to Mary Jane in the Raimi films, and Uncle Ben feels like less of a plot device and more like a real character. Coldplay’s “Til Kingdom Come” prettily underscores the tail end of this sequence.

The music continues as we see another scene where Peter comes across a bag once owned by his father, which Ben explains was kept safe for Peter. The music takes a sinister turn and the mystery surrounding Peter’s father is more explicitly suggested, leading him to meet Dr. Curtis Conners, the world’s foremost authority on reptiles and owner of only a single arm. Ifans plays the character with an almost regal British respectability, as Conners explains how he longs to “fix himself.” There is a brief scene of Peter in the blue-lit spider room seen in earlier trailers, before a dramatic cut to black.

The next sequence details Peter’s discovery and experimentation with his newfound powers; set to the Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man”, it’s a fun sequence involving humorous trial and error, as well as demonstrating Peter’s more technologically minded character this time round. A few experiments with defending the honour of local citizens and Spider-Man is born; there’s a scene where he foils a car robbery, detaining the thief with his trademark webbing, all the time cracking wise and displaying a prankster-ish quality that gives crucial personality to the man even when dressed in the suit.

The emergence of The Lizard from the otherwise mild-mannered Dr. Conners is treated with a lot more secrecy in this reel; it is implied that there is a definite connection, however, with Peter’s father and even with Peter himself. There is a scene of the Lizard causing carnage on a suspension bridge, but the full extent of the creature isn’t revealed. A scene follows where Peter is having dinner with Gwen and her family, with George Stacy lamenting the inability of his police force to capture Spider-Man so far. Tension ramps up, with Peter and George arguing over the moral righteousness of Spider-Man. The police force’s resentment of Spider-Man appears to be a major sub-plot in the film, complicated further by Peter’s relationship with Gwen.

This is followed by a montage of action and effects sequences from the film, showing off the massive set pieces and fight scenes the film promises to deliver. Even with this rough reel flicking between fully composited shots and others where Spider-Man is simply swinging in front of a blue-screen, the kinetic quality of the film is evident.

The lights come back up, the crowd suitably impressed by everything seen so far. It truly is spectacular, and promises to be a worthwhile reimagining of the Spider-Man story. Back in Los Angeles, Garman and Webb say goodbye to everyone, followed by Sadovski and company in Rio, Hewitt and Ifans in London, and the New York crew. When the screens shut off, Rhys Ifans answers a few questions from the audience, generally going for laughs more than actual information, but being a perfect gentleman about it.

On the sources of his inspiration for the character of Curt Conners/The Lizard:

“It was an amalgamation of both [the “golden age” comics and the Marvel Ultimate Universe], including my own mad head. What was important to me was that […] Dr. Curtis Conners was a scientist, a real man, a human being. And, you know, as you saw in the [footage] he’s a man with one arm [laughs]. Which is kind of inhibiting. So that was a kind of focus for me, a scientist who’s working on a very high level with cross-species genetics: what would drive a man with one arm to be interested in that subject? [more laughs]”

On whether The Lizard gets a snout in the film:

“No, but he could smell you from a mile off!”

 On tapping into personal experience to simulate the sense of loss Conners feels for his arm:

“Well, you know, I’ve occasionally lost my mind, but I got it back. Everything’s retrievable.”

On the stunt work needed for the film:

“Actually, initially, they got a very big guy in, with [a suit like] a crash test dummy. And we figured out, Mark and I, that in actual fact I felt that I wanted to do those CGI moves myself, because The Lizard moves in a very particular way. Whether you’d correlate it with my body movements in the movie, I don’t know, but it was very important to me to do that. So I did spend a lot of time kind of walking around in a green tracksuit with targets on it, and this huge flat lizard’s head stuck behind me. […] That was very amusing. But Mark’s gone to great lengths with this film to, despite the loads of technology, make a kind of low-tech Spider-Man in some sense, that isn’t manacled by special effects to a large degree. It’s about an emotional journey.”

On being a Pez dispenser:

“What’s that mean? [laughs, whilst Hewitt explains] Oh, yeah, great, man! That’ll be the Oscar, that one.”

With that the night is over, and all in attendance are treated to free t-shirts to warm them in the chilly London climate. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN looks set to actually be as amazing as it promises.

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is released in cinemas nationwide on 3rd July 2012, in 3D.