The cast for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has already grown very large, but the biggest fish had yet to surface. The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Norman Osborn will be in the upcoming sequel, and he will be played by none other than the Academy Award-winning actor Chris Cooper.
This is nothing short of major news. Norman Osborn is historically Spider-Man’s archenemy in his role of The Green Goblin, and he is most famous for actually causing the death of one of Spider-Man’s greatest loves in the comics. He was previously portrayed by Willem Dafoe in Sam Raimi’s trilogy.
When I found that the great Chris Cooper had been signed to play the Green Goblin, my eyes practically shot out of their sockets. I’ve been a fan of his work ever since I was three years old when I first saw him as the luckless Sheriff July Johnson in Lonesome Dove. I think he’d be a perfect cast for Osborn. As far as Green Goblin goes, I hope they continue their trend of borrowing from the Ultimate version of the character instead of repeating that stupid Power Ranger suit that the Raimi movies gave him.
Cooper will be joining a Jamie Foxx as Electro and Paul Giamatti as Rhino. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone will be returning to their roles of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy respectively. The film will be directed by Marc Webb, and scripted by Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci.