Since "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" has been filming all around New York City for the past few weeks, amateur set photographers have managed to snap pictures of just about everybody from the new movie (before an official glimpse of Jamie Foxx's Electro was released, we had already seen blurry shots of him walking through Times Square).
In keeping with this flow of information, last week photos were taken of what was assumed to be Paul Giamatti's stunt-double for the movie, and just now "Amazing Spider-Man 2" director Marc Webb tweeted the first official look at Giamatti's character, the Rhino. (As you can see from the photo at the top, photogs also got a glimpse of Giamatti in character this past weekend in Brooklyn.)
In the comics, the Rhino (aka Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich) is a thug from an unnamed eastern bloc country who is given superhuman abilities, mostly by wearing a really jazzy rhino suit that lets him lift an obscene amount of weight and run really fast. By the looks of the photo, though, the character seems to be refashioned into some kind of Russian gangster and, most tellingly, he is not wearing any kind of suit which means that either a) they have dropped that feature b) he only wears it sometimes or c) he is superhumanly gifted without having to wear the costume. However they play it, just seeing Giamatti in the midst of a choking rage is enough to get any spider-fan excited.
"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" will see Andrew Garfield return in the titular role alongside Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and Sally Field as Aunt May. Other new cast members (besides Foxx and Giamatti) include Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn, Chris Cooper as Norman Osborn, Shailene Woodley as Mary Jane Watson, and Felicity Jones in an unspecified role that everybody pretty much assumes is the Black Cat. (Side note: when is J. Jonah Jameson ever going to show up in these movies?) The highly anticipated sequel is scheduled to hit movie screens everywhere on May 2nd, 2014.
Day 66. Privet, Amerika. Poznakom'tes c Aleksei Sytsevich! twitter.com/MarcW/status/3…
— Marc Webb (@MarcW) May 11, 2013