'The Amazing Spider Man 2' Cast, Trailer & SXSW 2014: Director Marc Webb "Confident" Tackling Multiple Villians, Used More CGI on Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone [VIDEO]
Casting multiple villains in a superhero movie is a dangerous move as fans sometimes feel the movie is spread too thin while their favorite villain gets diminished screen time. Marc Webb, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director, however, is confident that he's got the formula down.
"It's about writing," he said this weekend at SXSW via The Playlist. "We're aware of those movies and the complaints people had. The main villain is Electro."
Webb insists Rhino and Sinister Six have smaller roles, and some speculate these could lead to spinoffs (such as the future Sinister Six movie) and appearances in future The Amazing Spider-Man films.
"Every other villain emerges around that," Webb continued. "We were careful to make sure the stories entertained. You had to make sure to create obstacles that were difficult to overcome. We wanted to make the physical and emotional obstacles difficult. Rhino is in it for four minutes so it's a legitimate comparison, but when you see the movie, I'm confident."
Confidence is not something Webb originally had when signing on to the reboot, which was released just five years after Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3.
"It was the stupidest idea I had ever heard," Webb explained. "Amy Pascal [Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman] brought it up to me, and I thought it was crazy, but of course I was a Spider-Man fan, but more of Peter Parker ... They gave me a script I didn't like, and Amy said, 'You can't turn down Spider-Man' and she was right ... I was really curious about the process and work with people who were up-and-coming like Andrew Garfield, but also Sally Field."
This time around, Webb isn't shying away from computer effects.
"In the first movie I was a little too reserved with the CGI, quite frankly, because I didn't want it to look too weird or awkward," Webb explained. "There was a moment deep in the production process where a giant lizard smashes through a wall, and I was like, 'This is not grounded,' and I made a decision that in the next movie I would embrace the spectacle and not be beholden to smallness ... I wanted it to be big and express and command that feeling you had as a kid reading the comics, that color and that bravado."
The movie also aims to reflect the greatness of Spider-Man video games.
"In the first Spider-Man [game] there was literally point-of-view, and you wanted to make the audience connect," Webb said. "That's always a guideline for me. All of that is about rending the inner life and thought process of the characters on screen."
Finally, the film would be nothing without its stars, which include Garfield as Peter Parker and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy.
"The reason I cast Paul Giamatti was that I saw him on Conan O'Brien saying that he wanted to play the Rhino, and I said, 'Oh what a great idea,' and of course Jamie Foxx is so brilliant and you know him from these incredible dramatic roles, but he has this huge capacity for comedy and inventing characters," Webb said.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hits theaters May 2.
Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.