Remember that quote we stole from Rhys Ifans about how great villains are never truly evil? It looks like we’ll be seeing a truly human reptilian villain in this Summer’s The Amazing Spider-Man.
Rhys Ifans, who has been cast as the all-important Lizard in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man has just sat down for an interview with Empire Magazine (via CBM) and it seems that he’s confirmed a big question many Spidey fans had been asking.
We’ve seen several incarnations of The Lizard over the past few months and many fans had wondered questions like: “Which picture is the real one?” or alternatively “Will the Lizard undergo different stages of transformation?” and it seems that Ifans has offered an explanation.
Like many Spider-Man villains, The Lizard isn’t necessarily evil, just misunderstood…
That’s certainly the case here. Curt is a force for good throughout his life. He’s a geneticist who wants to help people, like him, who are limbless. In his eagerness to advance that science, he makes a mistake and that’s an occurrence we’ve seen throughout time, sometimes to our benefit, sometimes to our detriment.
Did you base him on any scientist in particular?
No, not in particular. I had vague memories of the Open University but I wouldn’t say I looked like any of those guys. He is a broken man who wants to fix himself. The Lizard almost becomes a drug for him, an alter-ego like Jekyll and Hyde, if you like. He’s strong and brave and agile in a way that he can’t be in his own life.
Will we see Connors flit back and forth, or is this a gradual transformation?
Article Continues BelowI don’t know if I can say. You’ll see transformations of all kinds.
And you actually play The Lizard via mo-cap, don’t you?
Yeah, the advancements in that are quite [frick]in’ breathtaking. Each of your facial movements are repeatable, but then you add the face of a lizard. I was, disturbingly, able to recognise some of my facial tics. In terms of the physicality, I had a particular way I wanted The Lizard to move. I didn’t have lots of CGI downtime.
How did you manage to suggest having a tail?
You just have to imagine yourself with a longer spine. Some days I’d be standing on set like one of those ‘Golf Sale’ people with the pole stuck down the back of my tracksuit, and on top would be the Lizard head. It was quite comical in comparison to the end result.
Aside from the delightful description of how Ifans imagines that he has a tail, it also provides an idea of how Dr. Conners’ transformation will pan out in The Amazing Spider-Man
What do you think? Happy that we’ll see the full transformation as it evolves? Would you prefer a more distinctly lizard-like alter-ego for Dr. Conners?
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