Rhys Ifans To Play The Baddie in 'Spider-Man'

OCT 12, 2010 - Rhys Ifans (pic) is playing the villain in the next Spider-Man movie, Sony Pictures announced yesterday. However, Sony won't reveal which character he'll be.

Sony Pictures announced that Ifans, widely known as a comic actor in such films as Hugh Grant's Notting Hill, will be the baddie in the superhero adventure due out on July 3, 2012. Whoever he winds up playing, Ifans will be up against Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, the ordinary youth transformed by the bite of a mutant spider into the web-slinging superhero. Sony recently said the Emma Stone will play Gwen Stacy, Pete Parker's romantic interest.

"What sets the Spider-Man villains apart is the complexity of their relationships with Peter Parker," said Marc Webb who is directing the new Spider-Man. "Rhys' incredible ability to embody both warmth and rage makes him the ideal choice for this character."

Sony picked Welsh actor Ifans, 43, after executives saw his performance in the studio's upcoming Shakespeare historical thriller Anonymous. Ifans plays Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford, who some scholars theorize was the actual author of Shakespeare's plays and poems.