Sony Pictures released the first official movie clip from the upcoming film “The Amazing Spider-Man” aka Spider-Man 4 from writers Steve Ditko and Stan Lee by director Marc Webb.

Sony Pictures International released a longer cut of the Amazing Spider-Man trailer, hoping to establish this franchise reboot for a global audience. And while this new take offers basically all that we recently saw, it does extend one or two sequences by a few seconds, and is worth a glance.

What appealed to you about appearing in a big superhero franchise movie and taking on an iconic character such as Gwen Stacy?
When I auditioned for it, I didn’t get the full script, I only got scenes between Gwen and Peter and I screen-tested with Andrew. I heard about Spider-Man and I didn’t think it was something I would want to be a part of. I just thought that probably isn’t right for me. Then I had the scenes and realized that this was a really interesting fantastic relationship between two people and that I was being really close-minded. I liked all the Spider-Man movies and I’ve liked so many superhero movies that I don’t know why I had that kind of mentality about it. Then I went in and auditioned with Andrew and started learning more about Gwen Stacy and her history and just fell in love with the character and with the fans, too. I started reading forums and getting involved more in the comic book universe and it just became something I really wanted to be a part of, just because of all those elements.

You went from playing a literary character in The Help who was in a much beloved book with its own kind of following, to a comic book character who’s iconic and has this rabid following. Was there a big difference for you between those characters and how they’re treated by their fans?
Well of course the characters themselves are incredible different and there seems to be a different fan base between Spider-Man fans and fans of The Help. There are conventions for Spider-Man fans and there aren’t for The Help fans, although I would love to see a convention of The Help fans. It could be like the big Lebowski Fest. But they’re two tonally different worlds to me even though they both had such a rabid following. There’s a difference just in terms of bringing the material to life. There are different incarnations of Gwen Stacy and of Peter Parker throughout comic book history, all these different storylines to pull from depending on what kind of script you’re going to patch together. With The Help, it was such a distinct story that kind of needed to be matched line for line in a way. It felt different just in terms of becoming part of it and the way the material was adapted. But I’m so excited to be part of a movie with a built-in fan base in that way. You go to Comic-Con and there’s so much passion in one room. Everybody’s so passionate about these characters and how they’ve affected their own loves. It’s a really cool thing as an actor to know that you’re part of something that’s so much bigger than you. You’re not creating it from the ground up, you’re trying to fill the shoes of someone that’s been around a lot longer than you. It’s really exciting. I love that aspect of it.

Why do you think the producers and writers went with Gwen instead of Mary Jane?
Well, Gwen’s story happened before Mary Jane’s, and I think that coming back to their roots, it was interesting to explore the woman who came before Mary Jane. I think she’s such a definitive part of Peter Parker’s relationship with Mary Jane ultimately, who is literally the polar opposite in personality of Gwen Stacy. I think just building that into Pter’s life and seeing that story from the very beginning was really interesting. And of course Gwen’s story is so beautiful and important to that story of Spider-Man that I think they wanted to come from that angle at this time.

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A new trailer for “The Amazing Spider-Man” has just been released! Check it out now!

The 2012 edition of Comic-Con Annual is now available online. This all-new publication is a veritable 80-page giant, and features an exclusive new cover photo of Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield from the upcoming movie The Amazing Spider-Man. Interviews with Stone and director Marc Webb are part of the Annual’s “Year of the Spider” coverage, which also includes articles on the Webslinger’s 50th anniversary in comics, focusing on Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (by Blake Bell), and the father/son team of artists John Romita Sr. and John Romita Jr. (by Tom Spurgeon). Additional feature articles celebrate the 75th anniversary of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant (by Foster biographer Brian M. Kane), and the 30th anniversary of Love & Rockets (by Charles Brownstein). Plus a Comic-Con 2011 photo album, advance looks at Comic-Con International, WonderCon, and APE in 2012, and much more! The online version of the Annual features embedded links to specific Comic-Con.org website pages for the latest information on all three events.

You can read the magazine at Comic-Con.org!

Just 24 hours prior to its worldwide debut online, Sony Pictures unveiled a sneak peek of its superhero tentpole The Amazing Spider-Man during an international fan event held in select theaters around the globe. In addition to the trailer preview — the studio and the film’s stars, who were on hand to answer questions during a live simulcast — debuted footage from the movie.

The highly-anticipated footage played in 13 cities, including Mexico City, Berlin, Moscow and Seoul. Director Marc Webb joined the Los Angeles crowd, Emma Stone and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach showed up in Rio de Janeiro, Rhys Ifans in London and Andrew Garfield in New York. Hundreds of fans showed up at the AMC Century City hours before the presentation with the line stretching from the upper to lower levels and around the block. A second presentation was even added to aid in satiating the demand.

The event cannily saw Sony Pictures’ unveling of the new Spidey trailer quickly hijack Monday’s “post-Super Bowl best commercials” debate by blowing away attendees with the preview’s slick footage.

The 3D trailer more than delivers and ditto for the extended scenes which were shown in 2D. Though some of the material had already been screened for fans during last year’s Comic-Con Convention in San Diego, there were a couple of shots still in the animatic stage. The brand new footage reveals some of Dr. Curtis Connors’ evolution into classic Spider-Man villain the Lizard, as well Peter Parker’s hand in creating the amphibious freak.

One of the other standout scenes played was a “Spidey vs. the NYPD manhunt,” led by Captain Stacy (Denis Leary), father of love interest Gwen Stacy (Stone). During one of the scene’s pivotal moments, Captain Stacy even unmasks our hero (But we won’t tell you what happens after).

What is most amazing about the footage is despite how “big” it plays, the scenes still manage to remain deeply intimate and personal. Sami Raimi’s Spidey scenes actually pale in comparison with a faker, quainter feel. In the preview, the relationships between Parker and his family, Gwen Stacy, her father Captain Stacy as well as the Connors, all show multi-facets of the teen character. Garfield’s version of Peter Parker not only plays the bullied teen-turned-powerful superhero side of the character, but also the side of an orphan striking emotional chords over a desire to connect to his missing father.

In between viewings of the trailer and sizzle reel, Webb said one of the main focuses in the new Spidey movie was to explore Parker’s life in the context of being an orphan. “I wanted to treat Peter Parker in a more naturalistic way,” he said.

Speaking from Rio, Stone explained how her character Mary Jane would differ from that of Kirsten Dunst’s portrayal in the Raimi movies. “Gwen is the yin to Mary Jane’s yang,” she said. “Gwen is falling in love with Peter Parker and Mary Jane falls in love with Spider-Man, which I think is different.”

Sony nailed the casting of Parker/Spidey with Andrew Garfield, who came off both nervous and extremely humble, “I can’t believe I’m here,” he told the excited geek crowd.

The character “belongs to everyone in this room,” Garfield said from the New York event. “It doesn’t belong to me. I really mean it. The more of these events I go to the more I realize…It’s overwhelming to be representing this symbol. ‘Cuz that’s all I am. I’m the guy in the suit. It could be anyone in the suit. It happen to be me this time, before that it was Tobey [Maguire] and next time hopefully it will be a half hispanic-half african-merican actor.”

Garfield’s last sentiments — a nod to the debut of last year’s Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series, featuring a mixed-raced character Mile Morales — elicited cheers and laughter from Rio, London, New York and LA.

HollywoodReporter.com

As part of its promotional ramp-up for The Amazing Spider-Man, Sony hosted events with the film’s principals in different cities around the world today, all simultaneously and linked up via some kind of video technology that I will never, ever understand. Stars Andrew Garfield (New York City), Emma Stone (Rio de Janeiro), Rhys Ifans (London) and director Marc Webb (Los Angeles) presented a new and much improved trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man (as well as a “sizzle reel” that you will not see which revealed even more footage) and answered some questions about the film. Among Garfield’s remarks was one that delighted the assembled fans and press in attendance: he said that he hopes the next Spider-Man will be “a half-Hispanic, half-African American actor,” an obvious reference to Ultimate Spider-Man star Miles Morales.

Some SPOILERS follow.

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We’re still five whole months away from the feverishly anticipated The Amazing Spider-Man reboot starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans (in 3D!). But that didn’t stop Sony from getting the Peter Parker party started early today; the studio gathered fans in four cities and three countries to bring out its stars, show fresh footage and even answer a few questions ahead—way ahead—of its July 3 release.

Here are five things we learned:

1. Emma Stone isn’t Kirsten Dunst, got it? If you’re looking for Stone’s blond Gwen Stacy character to be anything like Dunst’s Mary Jane, forget it. “I keep saying Gwen is the yin to Mary Jane’s yang,” she told fans via live linkup in Rio De Janiero. “They’re polar opposites in every way…Gwen falls in love with Peter Parker, Mary Jane falls in love with Spider-Man.”

2. Think Spider-Man meets The Dark Knight: Look for darker, more sarcastic humor, a more antagonistic relationship with law enforcement, and more of a self-made hero. And in this version, Parker gets some of his web-slinging studliness from his own talent for invention—as it was in the original comic books. “We wanted to treat Peter Parker in a more realistic way,” director Mark Webb told fans from Los Angeles.

3. Or think Spider-Man meets The Dark Knight meets…Star Wars? No, the Lizard is not Spidey’s Dad (we hope), but there are a lot of daddy issues wrapped around the hero-villain dynamic. Dr. Curt Connors, aka the Lizard, the villain at the center of the tale, holds the key to Peter Parker’s questions about a mysterious past. “With Dr. Curt Connors, what makes him a more emotional presence in Peter’s life is that he had a very close relationship to Peter’s father,” said Rhys Ifans, who plays the villain and who was speaking to fans from London. “That makes the connection a very complex and emotional one.”

4. The new Spider-Man is totally scared. “I’m terrified right now,” Andrew Garfield admitted while speaking to fans from New York. “It’s so overwhelming to be representing this symbol … but it’s a reverent terror.” As for why he took the role, knowing the great responsibility that comes with it, he quipped, “I’m not an idiot.”

5. The next Spider-Man will be… Garfield imagines Spider-Man evolving in a very interesting way in the future. “Hopefully next time he’ll be a half-Hispanic, half African-American actor,” he told fans.

EOnline.com