Comic Con 2011: Live Blogging The Amazing Spider-Man Panel

There aren’t very many superhero movies at this year’s Comic Con, but this one certainly qualifies. With the release of the trailer last week, people are incredibly curious about what Sony will be bringing to Hall H with The Amazing Spider-Man panel and, lucky for you, I’m safe within the rooms four walls to report all of the tasty details.

Keep refreshing this page as I update with minute-by-minute coverage of the event, featuring both filmmakers and stars from the film!

5:51: Looks like we’re getting the footage first! Here it comes!

5:52:Showing the trailer that premiered last week. People cheering at the sight of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone

5:53: The POV shots at the end of the trailer look particularly fantastic in 3D.

5:55: Guy dressed in a shitty Spider-Man suit steals the audience mike. IT’S ANDREW GARFIELD!!

5:56: Garfield is intensely excited. He’s totally out of breath. Actually reading a speech that he prepared. He’s shaking. This is actually quite touching and beautiful. Damn, Andrew, you are going to own this crowd. He sounds like he’s on the verge of crying. Says it’s his first time here and says it is very much the coolest moment of his life.

5:56: Garfield takes off suit to introduce the panel members. Starting with the producers, including Avi Arad, director Marc Webb, Emma Stone (gets huge applause). Garfield leaves the mic and heads to the stage.

5:59: Footage time! Apparently this is still really raw footage, so we may see some wires and green screen. No 3D yet either!

6:08: Wow, it looks like they are taking Spider-Man to some incredible new levels not even breached by Sam Raimi. I don’t remember seeing armed swat teams with machine guns firing at Spider-Man. More details coming very soon.

UPDATE! Here is my scene-by-scene breakdown of the first footage shown for The Amazing Spider-Man:

For starters, it should be mentioned that the first footage shown wasn’t in 3D. The footage begins with Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) in high school being scolded by teachers and told not to skateboard in the hall. He’s also being bullied by Flash Thompson (Chris Zylka). Then Peter is shown in the principal’s office with Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) being scolded for assaulting Flash – a scene is then shown with Flash coming towards Peter and Peter counters and slams Flash into a row of lockers. In the hallway, Uncle Ben asks Peter if he did what the principal said he did and Peter admits it, saying that Flash had it coming. Uncle Ben asks if Flash is the boy that hit him, and Peter says yes. Ben deduces that it was done out of revenge and getting even, which Peter realizes isn’t okay. Then Gwen Stacey walks up from behind Peter and Ben says, “I know that girl, she’s the one from your computer!” Ben then turns towards Gwen and says, “He has you on his computer!” Thinking he’s embarrassed his nephew enough, Ben then leaves and Peter is standing with Gwen in the hallway. Awkwardly trying to explain the situation, Peter first says Ben’s a pathological liar and then that he thought she was Gwen Stefani. Finally he says that the image he had taken of the debate team and that he was “just touching up stuff,” which she repeats noticing the double-entendre. Gracelessly Peter then asks her out, saying something along the lines of, “Do you wanna…I don’t know…or we could do something else…” Gwen then says yeah and he’s happy.

In another scene, Peter finds his dad’s old suitcase which Ben says he has been holding on to. Looking through the bag we see Peter’s take out his father’s glasses and put them on and a work badge from Oscorp.

Then we get into the real good Spider-Man stuff. Playing under “Street Fighting Man” by The Rolling Stones, Peter is seen waking up with his alarm clock and while turning it off smashing it to bits. Then it cuts to a scene where he is being assaulted on the subway with his own skateboard, which he begs a guy not to break. The scenes go back and forth between Peter’s morning and the subway encounter. While in the bathroom, unaware of his own strength, Peter squirts all of the toothpaste on to the mirror, breaks a towel rack and causes all kinds of havoc (though it seems he has no idea why). On the subway he is being attacked and uses all of his new powers to evade punches and take the bad guys down (it should be noted that he’s still in his street clothes). Peter is also shown developing his webshooters in his room, eventually being successful. Then Peter is shown running around in alleys, leaping off of surfaces and basically doing his Spider-Man thing.

Finally comes the best part of the footage. A man breaks into a car but doesn’t see Spider-Man in the backseat. Webhead tells the guy that it’s not right for him to steal cars. The guys asks if Spidey is a cop to which he replies, “You seriously think I’m a cop? A cop in a skintight red and blue suit?” Moving outside the car, the car thief threatens Spider-Man with a knife and Peter acts super scared. With the thief’s confidence up, Spidey then shoots some webbing at him and makes him stick to a wall. He then has a bunch of fun shooting webbing at the guy in a variety of different ways - behind the back, like a baseball, etc.

Then the tone shifts again. We hear a voice-over of Martin Sheen giving the famous with great power comes great responsibility speech, though he doesn’t say that exactly. A plot line is then set up where a crime has been committed and eye-witnesses have placed “an individual” at the scene. George Stacey (Denis Leary), Gwen’s dad, talks with one of his kids about catching Spider-Man, and he says that they haven’t caught him yet, but he’s going to. Peter argues with him that Spidey is out helping people, but George says that he carries a badge while Spider-Man has a mask. Aunt May (Sally Field) is seen being upset about Peter coming home with injuries, Peter telling her to go to sleep and her saying, “I can’t sleep!” In a press conference George Stacey makes a statement saying that there’s an official arrest warrant “out for the vigilante known as Spider-Man.” There is then a scene where and unmasked Peter screams out, “Dr. Connors! This is not you! Stop it! Stop this right now!” Before the screen goes black, Aunt May is heard saying, “Secrets have a cost.”

6:09: Garfield says they are approaching this like Greek myth and want to see these huge stories on the big screen and see this as another chapter on the big screen. Stone says she’s viewing it the same way, from a new perspective. Fell in love with the story of Gwen and Peter. She feels the need to play the character with her own input. Interpreted Gwen her own way.

6:11: Marc Webb is asked if he used music to get his actors in the mood like he did for 500 Days of Summer. Webb says music has always been a big part of his approach.

6:11: Marc Webb says they have footage of the Lizard!

UPDATE: Here's the description of The Lizard footage!

The lizard footage began with Peter as part of a group listening to Dr. Curt Connors talk about his main focus: Herpetology, the study of reptiles. Talking about his condition (he’s missing an arm, but it’s still covered with green screen), he crowd sources the members of the group asking how he could heal himself. When nobody says anything and Dr. Connors begins to mock the crowd for not being the best and the brightest, Peter chimes in with the idea of cross-species genetics, using other animals cells and abilities to help his condition. Impressed, Dr. Connors asks who he is. Gwen Stacey, who works with Dr. Connors, says, “He’s one of Midtown Science’s best and brightest.” Dr. Connors then leaves. A montage begins featuring Connors testing his own science on himself. In many ways it’s similar to the transformation of Norman Osborne in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. He takes video of the treatment and then scenes flash by of Connors actually growing back his missing arm. You see scaly skin on his face as he begins to transform and he talks about becoming much stronger. Cut to two girls standing in a bathroom stall together. One of the girls is holding a photo and telling the other that her boyfriend cheated on her. Burning the photo, they suddenly notice that all of the water has been sucked out of the toilet. Then the toilet begins to shake and the ground begins to crumble. They girls run out of the stall and watch this unfold. From the rubble emerges the lizard, a seven foot-tall beast with a flat face and all scaly skin. The Lizard pins the girls up against the wall and they are absolutely terrified. His mouth opens slightly and his long pink tongue comes crawling out. Then another scene has him leaping at the camera and the screen goes black.

6:18: Lizard stands about 7 feet tall. Has green scaly skin, long tail. Long pink tongue. Interesting choice is that he has a flat face instead of an extended snout. Cool design. and Rhys Ifans is here!

6:21: Andrew says that he did hesitate when deciding to take on the part, but his inner child said that he had to do it. Emma says that she had to put fear aside and found it impossible to say no to.

6:21: On tone: Webb said that he wants our world to be recognized on screen aesthetically. Talks about the fun reliability of the character. Says it is emotionally complex, which can be seen as dark, but sees "dark" as a complex word.

6:25: Rhys says you don't bring humanity to a monster, a monster brings out humanity.

6:26: Andrew says that Spider-Man and Holden Caulfield were the two characters he related to when he was a kid. He had his first Spider-Man suit when he was two.

6:27: Andrew said he didn't get to talk with Tobey Maguire during production, but did get Maguire's blessing about taking on the character.

6:29: Andrew says that the rule was really, really hard work. Had a weight that he didn't understand until he stepped into the actual suit. He's actually scared to be sharing the footage.

6:31: Andrew asked how working in Britain is different from America. After much hesitation, he says that America is the best (with acknowledgement that he's in America)

6:32: Last question wasted with a "Can I have your nametag?" Then asks Andrew and Emma about their journey after they learned they had their parts to actually be filming. Garfield spent four months with the knowledge. Had incredible bouts of training, wants to punch his trainer in the face. Emma found out about the role while she was on the set of The Help, had about three weeks, read about the various Staceys and then they were on set.

6:34: And that's it! The live-blogging continues tomorrow!