According to The Hollywood Reporter, Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS) will play the un-named villain, opposite Andrew Garfield (Peter Parker) and Emma Stone (Gwen Stacy), in the as-yet-untitled Spider-Man reboot.
The annoumcement came from Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures.
Tolmach is quoted as saying the following:
“We have been very fortunate to attract some of the best actors working today to play the villains in the SPIDER-MAN movies, and it is exciting to see that trend continue with Rhys Ifans. After seeing his performance in our upcoming film ANONYMOUS, we’re in awe of his talent and think he’s the perfect choice to take on this role.”
The new movie, to be directed by Marc Webb from a script by James Vanderbilt and produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, is set to begin production in December, with a July 3rd, 2012 release in mind.