Welsh actor tapped to play 'Spider-Man' villain

Welsh actor Rhys Ifans is playing the bad guy in the next "Spider-Man." But the filmmakers aren't saying yet which character he'll be.

Sony Pictures announced yesterday that Ifans, widely known as a comic actor in such films as Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant's "Notting Hill," will co-star as the villain in the superhero adventure due out July 3, 2012, The Associated Press reports.

The studio's announcement notes that the "filmmakers prefer to not reveal which character Ifans will be playing." The Marvel Comics vaults are loaded with villains that Spider-Man has taken on over the decades.

Whoever he winds up playing, Ifans will be up against Andrew Garfield, who stars as Peter Parker, the ordinary youth transformed by the bite of a mutant spider into the web-slinging superhero.

Ifans played Grant's offbeat roommate in 1999's "Notting Hill." He co-starred in this year's "Nanny McPhee Returns" and Ben Stiller's comic drama "Greenberg." He also co-stars in next month's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1." The casting choice follows last week's announcement that Emma Stone will co-star as Gwen Stacy in the new "Spider-Man" movie, which begins shooting in December.