Brooke Bunny
Paul Giamatti might be joining Jamie Foxx on criminal square, playing a bad guy in the new “Spider-Man” movie.
The actor is in talks to play ‘The Rhino’ in the sequel to 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man”, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The “Shoot ‘Em Up” star would share villain duties with Foxx, who has been cast as Electro.
The Rhino first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #41 in 1966 as a thug from a Soviet Bloc country who wore a superhuman suit that made him invulnerable while giving him superstrength and superspeed. It also had a deadly horn on top.
In more recent comics, he became a sympathetic figure who found himself allying with Spider-Man.
The character Jones would play has not been revealed.
The role is a dream part for Giamatti, who in the past has said The Rhino was one of his favorite characters when he was a boy.
“I thought Rhino was the greatest thing when I was a little kid,” he told ShowbizSpy in March 2011. “It was a guy who was basically in this rhinoceros outfit, and I always thought, ‘Why don’t they have The Rhino in one of their movies.’ But maybe The Rhino wasn’t that big of a deal for anybody but me. … If they ever go with The Rhino, I would be ready and waiting.”
Around the same time, he also talked about the character on Conan: “The Rhino was fantastic,” he said. “He was, like, a Russian guy. He was real fast, and he hit stuff real hard.”
The movie, directed by Marc Webb, is eyeing a February filming start.
Meantime, British actress Felicity Jones (“Like Crazy”) has been asked to come aboard the film too. Her role has not yet been revealed.
