UK: "The Amazing Spider-Man" co-stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone attend Gala Premiere of their new movie in London

Record ID: 220860

  • Title: UK: "The Amazing Spider-Man" co-stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone attend Gala Premiere of their new movie in London
  • Date: 19th June 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 18, 2012) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ANDREW GARFIELD ASKED ABOUT PERFORMING HIS OWN STUNTS, SAYING: "60-70 percent and then the really hard stuff the professionals do and make me look brilliant." ACTOR RHYS IFANS POSING FOR PICTURES IFANS AND ACTRESS PARTNER ANNA FRIEL POSING FOR PICTURES IFANS AND FRIEL SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, RHYS IFANS, SAYING: "It was an amazing opportunity to play not just a villain but someone very complicated." Reporter: I heard you were amazed that the lizard's eyes were your eyes ..." "Yeah, you can, you know, just to see this big lizard and then there's this human aspect and when you realise that human aspect is you it's like extraordinary, yeah."
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA2RWG4OUPSYFC8SGW6WNV9ZHM4
  • Story Text: Spider-Man is about to swing back onto the big screen, only this time it's The Social Network's Andrew Garfield in the lead role, not Tobey Maguire.
    Unfazed by the inevitable comparisons, Garfield was happy to take on the challenge of a character he feels needs to be kept alive.
    Speaking at the Gala Premiere of The Amazing Spider-Man in London on Monday (June 18), the Bafta winning actor said: "Tobey Maguire and Richard Hammond both played this role, but, but, David Tennant, Ben Whishaw loads of other people played Hamlet, I love this character so much, I think it is a timeless character that needs to be kept alive and Tobey and Sam (Raimi / director) did a beautiful job with those three movies and I think we are just continuing the legacy."
    Spider-man quickly became one of the most popular and commercially successful superheroes after he first appeared as a fictional comic book hero in the early 1960s. Since then he has appeared in live-action television shows, syndicated newspaper comic strips, and a series of films directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire.
    Also making her Spider-Man debut is The Help actress Emma Stone. She plays Spider-Man's love interest Gwen Stacy, a part she too loved: "She is Peter Parker's first love, I mean that is a pretty big deal and his first confidant and her father is the police chief who is trying to kill Spider-Man and so she has some secrets to keep it's a pretty great character, I really loved her."
    The sequel to Raimi's first three movies focuses on Peter Parker's quest to understand the disappearance of his parents, rather than the superhero dimension of the story. It also has a new boss at the helm, filmmaker Marc Webb. Known for 500 Days of Summer Webb explained how he weaved cinema's current love for 3D into the project: "The movie starts up very small and intimate and we spent a lot of time developing those characters so you understand all the nuance of them, and then gradually as the movie expands so does the 3D and so does Peter's world and so there's a dimension that the 3D helps provides I wanted to make us feel like we were flying through the air with Peter Parker and 3D was a way to generate as close to a physiological response as you could in the cinema experience."
    Action packed, as Peter struggles to figure out who he is, he meets his father's former partner, Dr.Curt Connors, a scientist who becomes mutant villain The Lizard. Welsh actor Rhys Ifans plays Connors. The Notting Hill star was joined at the premiere by his actress girlfriend Anna Friel and admitted seeing himself as a lizard was strange: "Just to see this big lizard and then there's this human aspect and when you realise that human aspect is you, it's like extraordinary."
    While the cast were happy to talk about the movie, they were less keen to divulge any information about their private lives. It is rumoured that Garfield and Stone started dating while shooting the film, however neither were willing to answer on the topic. When asked if it was hard working alongside his girlfriend, Garfield said: "Who's my girlfriend?" While Stone simply smiled and walked away when quizzed as to who was a better boyfriend, Andrew or Spider-Man.
    The Amazing Spider-Man opens in the UK and U.S. on July 3rd.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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