Taking over the Spider-Man film franchise is already a major challenge, but director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer) has to take the character back to his origins and do so in a way that distinguishes his take as different from Sam Raimi's.  The posters for The Amazing Spider-Man have been vaunting an "Untold Story", and part of that is making this Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) a little darker and more realistic.  In a recent interview, Webb talked about the "trickster" aspect of the new Spider-Man and what we can expect regarding the film's tone.Hit the jump for more.  The Amazing Spider-Man opens in 3D on July 3rd.amazing-spider-man-movie-poster-teaserSpeaking to Comic-Con in their annual magazine (via Latino Review), Webb discussed how he tried to balance the character's humor with a slightly darker tale:

There’s this trickster quality we were very keen on exploring, with that humor and that fun and that wisecracking stuff. We wanted to keep that alive, but we wanted it to be realistic. We wanted that humor to come from a real place. My aim was to create a world where you could feel all those emotions. There are certainly darker, more intense feelings in this movie. There is betrayal, there is tragedy, but there’s also humor and romance. So it’s a very complex bouquet of emotions, but what you have to tread on is what feels authentic and what feels real, and you have to earn those different emotions. There are moments of furiousness and gravity, absolutely. But are there moments of humor and levity and whimsy? Absolutely. Andrew was really great. He used this term to describe Peter Parker in Spider-Man and Spider-Man in particular: he’s a trickster. He was like “How would Spider-Man web this guy? He’d give him a wedgy or he’d dos some awful graffiti.” There’s a punk rock quality to Peter Parker that’s really irreverent and fun and that’s something that Andrew embodies in a way that we haven’t seen before. Certainly the materials that have come out have a darker sentiment or there’s a darker projection, but we’re very keen on staying loyal to the humor of Spider-Man.

This falls in line with the footage I saw at Comic-Con where Spidey was taunting some street thug.  It was funny but there was a slight edge of cruelty to it.  This isn't the straight-up do-gooder Spider-Man we saw in Raimi's movies.

Webb also said he went with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) as the love-interest because she's as smart (if not smarter) than Peter and that there's a bit of a rivalry between the two in addition to the love story.  As for casting Rhys Ifans as Curt Conners/The Lizard, Webb says the actor knew how to balance the ally-to-adversary transformation of the character. "He has a wonderful kindness and warmth," says Webb, "and he has this surly rock 'n' roll part of his personality and you really sense both of those in this movie."

Tomorrow, audiences in select cities will get a new look at The Amazing Spider-Man and hopefully they'll come out with some positive buzz.  I also wouldn't be surprised if we got a new trailer within a month's time.

Here's the official synopsis for The Amazing Spider-Man:

“The Amazing Spider-Man” is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

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