Rhys Ifans now has dozens of titles to his name, but Notting Hill still proves to be a fan favorite. While director Marc Webb does note Notting Hill as well, it’s Ifans’ ability to present a darker side and his Shakespearian pedigree in Enduring Love that influenced him to cast Ifans as Dr. Curt Connors in The Amazing Spider-Man.
Eager to find out why his parents disappeared when he was a child, Peter Parker’s (Andrew Garfield) search brings him to Oscorp where his father once worked alongside Dr. Curt Connors. Desperate to find a way to regrow human tissue and restore his missing arm, the threat of the termination of his research leads Connors to recklessly inject himself with his serum, successfully bringing his arm back, but also turning him into a gigantic lizard.
Rather than simply get the day off when Dr. Connors shifted into lizard mode, Ifans himself did work to influence the computer-generated performance. When Ifans wasn’t working closely with the effects team, he was spending quality time with “Kermit,” the green sock that enabled the filmmakers to remove Ifans’ arm in post-production. However, even with getting a firsthand look at what it takes to make all of this movie magic happen, seeing the final product on the big screen was the most exciting part of the process for the actor.
Hear all about that and more from Ifans himself in the interview below and be sure to catch The Amazing Spider-Man for yourself in theaters today!
