Rhys Ifans Confirmed For ‘The Lizard’ In Spider-Man Reboot

Posted in Film, Previews
By Martin Roberts on 14 Oct 2010

Poor Dylan Baker. Hollywood’s ruthless side has reared its ugly head again. As the man who played the fairly thankless role of Dr. Curt Connors in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy (but still managed to play it pretty well) Baker will now have to sit and watch Welsh actor Rhys Ifans enjoying himself in the role.

To be fair, given the series is being restarted with a new lead and cast, it was unrealistic to assume Baker would return, but it does seems a tad unfair. That said, Ifans is still an interesting choice for the role. In general, this latest bit of casting and story information serves as a further tease for the update that is still a fair way away, but certainly seems to be gathering steam. Needless to say, (director) Marc Webb and his cast/production team have a significant battle on their hands, not so much to live up to the reputation of the first trilogy (after all, the films weren’t classics) but to battle against those already established characters and the risk of an unfriendly deja-vu preventing audiences from turning out to see another Spidey so soon after the last.

As a Spidey fan, I’m interested to see where they go with the new installment, but there’s a case to be made for leaving franchises alone from time to time, simply to let the dust settle and gain a new perspective. Relentlessly milking the cash cow will, eventually, dry out its creative udder…

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