Rhys Ifans is going to be playing the Lizard in the new SPIDER-MAN reboot. It was recently announced that he’ll be the movie’s villain, but the Wrap’s got confirmation that he is, indeed, agreeing to play the Lizard (thanks to Sora for the head’s up!) I can’t help but feel for Dylan Baker, who’s going through a situation quite similar to what Billy Dee Williams went through in the first run of BATMAN movies. That is, he played Dr. Curt Conners in two Spidey movies, likely on the expectation that he'd eventually get all green and scaley and, now, the series have gone in a different direction and the role’s going to a different actor.
Ifans is supposed to be in the next HARRY POTTER movie and I imagine he’ll be doing a lot of wizarding therein. I’ll confess to being mostly familiar with him from his role as a chain-smoking limey kicker in THE REPLACEMENTS. I’m sure the guy’s got range but, when G-Man asked me what villain I thought he should play if not the Lizard, the first name that popped into my mind was the Spot. == TEASER ==
Yes, the Spot, a wonderful, Ditko-esque villain who’s surely too absurd to be in any live-action version of Spidey. I don’t know why, but he seems like a fit for Ifans.
With Tom Hardy recently announced as a character in BATMAN 3, I guess it goes to show that the real casting decisions for these movies usually come out of nowhere (rather than culminating from months of rumor and speculation.) The only time I think any villains or actors were pegged to the movie were the rumors about Clive Owen playing Kraven.
Also, we figured you might want to check out these fan posters that CBM has collected…
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon here & here.