New webmaster Garfield: Spidey's always in style

SAN DIEGO—The new Peter Parker says it's never too soon for another "Spider-Man" movie.
Andrew Garfield, who plays Peter and his superhero alter-ego in next summer's "The Amazing Spider-Man," said Friday at the Comic-Con fan convention that his take on the Marvel Comics icon is a departure from

Tobey Maguire's, which concluded just four years ago after three films.
Though it's a short turn-around for a new version, lifelong Spidey fan Garfield says people need a hero such as Peter.
"We love it. We need it. We need his strength, we need his joy. We need to see that guy swing among the buildings of New York City. We all love that guy. We all dreamed of being him," Garfield 27, said in an interview. "It's never going to die, and I can't wait to see what the next actor does with it."
Garfield, director Marc Webb, co-star Emma Stone, who plays romantic interest Gwen Stacy, and Rhys Ifans, who plays a villain known as the Lizard, had plenty of kindred spirits at Comic-Con, where they gave fans a preview of their new story of how nerdy Peter transforms into the agile crime fighter. The film is due in theaters next summer.
After the trailer for "The Amazing Spider-Man" played, Garfield gave Comic-Con fans a rousing opening to the presentation. Dressed in a cheap Spider-Man costume, Garfield rushed to a question-and-answer microphone in the audience posing as a jittery fan for a few moments before whipping off his mask and introducing himself as the film's star.
In a breathless voice, Garfield read an impassioned summation of his adulation for Spider-Man, saying that "Peter Parker inspired me to feel stronger. He made me, Andrew, braver." Before introducing Webb, Stone and other collaborators, Garfield gushed: "This is definitely the coolest moment of my life."
Director Sam Raimi and his stars, Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco, bid farewell to the franchise after 2007's "Spider-Man 3," opening the door for Marvel and Sony Pictures to go back to the drawing-board for a fresh approach.
Webb, best known previously for his clever romantic comedy (500) Days of Summer," said the decades of "Spider-Man" comic books are a bottomless source for big-screen adaptations.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" footage Sony showed included scenes of Garfield's Peter getting used to his strength and other superpowers, then running afoul of the police, who declare him a masked vigilante. The studio also presented scenes of Ifans as a one-armed scientist who transforms into the hulking Lizard.
The footage also showed Peter building his mechanical web-shooters, a return to the comic-book tradition after the Maguire-Raimi films gave the character the ability to shoot webs organically out of his wrists.
The story sets Peter on a quest to unravel secrets about his long-gone father, a journey that puts him on the path to his own fateful transformation.
Born in the United States but raised in England, Garfield was a virtual unknown in Hollywood when cast last year in the new "Spider-Man" series. Before that, he had starred in the acclaimed British drama "Boy A" and co-starred in Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs" and Heath Ledger's last film, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."
After the "Spider-Man" casting announcement, Garfield quickly shot to prominence with well-received roles in "Never Let Me Go" and "The Social Network," the latter earning him a supporting-actor nomination at the Golden Globes.
Stone also has been on the rise, starring in last year's comedy hit "Easy A" and in next month's literary adaptation "The Help," as well as co-starring in Steve Carell's romance "Crazy, Stupid, Love," opening next week.
Garfield recalled that Maguire phoned him on the day it was "announced that I would be taking on the mantle of this symbol that means more than him or me, and he kind of gave me his blessing, which made me feel OK about jumping into it. ... He's the best. I'm Team Tobey."

Scotty McCreery Wins 'American Idol'

Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Bono perform on star-studded season 10 finale. Either way, a teenage country singer was going to take home the season 10 "American Idol" crown Wednesday night (May 25), it was just a matter of whether it was Scotty McCreery or Lauren Alaina. After Tuesday night's final performance episode, Fox announced that more than 122 million votes poured in, marking a new record in "Idol" history, bringing the season total to more than 730 million votes. And while Scotty looked like the unbeatable favorite, there was some doubt going into the finale, thanks to Lauren's gutsy performance just 24 hours before and her knockout delivery of what could have been her "Idol" coronation tune, "Like My Mother Does."

Two hours into the final show, Seacrest finally got the golden envelope, and McCreery and Alaina gave each other a playful, youthful shove in anticipation of the news. To almost no one's surprise, the name inside was Scotty's, and the Garner, North Carolina, baseball star and church choir member burst into tears, bending over with his hands on his knees as the giant screen behind him flashed "Scotty Wins!" A smiling Alaina gave him a warm kiss, and the two pals embraced as judge Jennifer Lopez walked over to present a microphone-shaped trophy to the 17-year-old country crooner who never wavered from his signature, deep-voiced delivery throughout the competition. The rest of the season's finalists engulfed Scotty in a group hug as Seacrest brought him center stage and raised his hand like a boxing champ after a 12-round brawl to end it all. "It's been a year since me and Lauren Alaina tried out, and me and her have been together since day one and we're gonna stay together. ... Never in my wildest dreams," said a shell-shocked McCreery. "I gotta thank the Lord first, he got me here." Handing the platinum microphone off to James Durbin, McCreery moseyed out to the audience to hug his folks and his family (but not disappointed actor Jack Black), as he sang his coronation tune, "I Love You This Big," stopping along the way to hug each finalist and tell them he loved them while sparks and confetti rained down on his big moment. As the song ended, he crumpled into a heap center stage for a good cry and then a few more embraces for the rest of the cast. The performance-packed two-hour finale opened with the season's top 13 -- dressed in white and silver lamé -- taking a peppy, Broadway jukebox musical-style run at Lady Gaga's "Born This Way." Speaking of Gaga, Mother Monster returned to the "Idol" stage for a surprisingly sedate performance of "The Edge of Glory." Standing at the top of a rocky crag while wearing an elaborate diamond-shaped headdress and black cape that she tossed aside to reveal a metal-studded leather bikini, Gaga mostly stood in place until a male dancer approached to engage her in a hip-to-hip ballet interlude that ended with a lover's leap. He wanted to bring metal back, and fourth-place finisher James Durbin got his chance. Slipping into some studded metal duds to rock the stage with hard-rock legends Judas Priest on their classics "Living After Midnight" and "Breaking the Law," Durbin traded snarling vocals with singer Rob Halford and unleashed some of his signature rebel howls to the likely confusion of many in the audience and at home. Jacob Lusk hooked up with gospel great Kirk Franklin and R&B legend Gladys Knight for Franklin's sanctified "I Smile"; bearded lover-man Casey Abrams threw down with "Kung Fu Panda 2" star Black on a greasy, scat-tastic romp through Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls"; and the ladies of "Idol" (minus Lauren) did a sassy medley of Beyoncé songs, including "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," "Irreplaceable," "Get Me Bodied" and "If I Were a Boy." Things were seeming a bit long until B herself showed up to show the girls how it's done, with a fierce, heel-stomping "Crazy in Love." Queen B got another chance a bit later, debuting her emotional new ballad "1+1," from her upcoming album 4. With composers Bono and The Edge in tow, Reeve Carney, star of the troubled Broadway musical "Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark," sang the meditative beat-rock ballad "Rise Above," capably trading vocals with the Irish rock icon in a pleading voice that was eerily reminiscent of Bono's own plaintive wail. The top 13 guys also got a chance, singing Prince's "Kiss," which allowed Stefano Langone to break out his squeaky falsetto and Paul McDonald to do his scarecrow dance once more for Tom Jones' "She's a Lady," before Sir Jones himself came out to bring it home with "It's Not Unusual." Haley Reinhart got to show off her jazz roots during a duet with musical icon Tony Bennett on a finger-snappin' "Steppin' Out," which included a bit of soft-shoe and fancy dance moves from the duo. One of the night's biggest surprises was the reunion of the two remaining members of 1990s girl group TLC with rapper Lil Jon and the top 13 girls for "Scrubs" and "Waterfalls." Finally, it was time for McCreery to get the spotlight, sharing a microphone and holding his own with Tim McGraw on "Live Like You Were Dying." Also getting a chance to shine after mentoring the "Idol" contestants behind-the-scenes all season was Latin star Marc Anthony, who brought some salsa fire with "Aguanile," during which he was joined by wife Lopez, who showed off her dancing assets during a Sheila E. timbale breakdown. In keeping with the judges' sharp use of the biggest platform in TV to plug themselves, Steven Tyler took the spotlight to sing an abbreviated version of Aerosmith's "Dream On," though, curiously, not his new debut solo single. Alaina also got her time to shine, singing a grinding version of Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats," with a California-beach-babe-looking Underwood sauntering out to trade sassy verses, with the two Southern gals making beautiful music together. And so season 10 ended with the coronation of the first country "Idol" winner since season four's Underwood, who just happens to be the biggest star in the show's history. So Scotty's got that going for him. Don't miss a special edition of "Idol Party Live" Thursday at noon on MTV.com for analysis, finale red-carpet coverage and the last "Idol in 60 Seconds" of season 10. Get in the conversation by tweeting with the hashtag #idolparty! In the meantime, get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

'Spider-Man' musical director Julie Taymor mocked by 'Saturday Night Live' over 'firing'

"Saturday Night Live" turned the light on "fired" "Spider-Man" director Julie Taymor this weekend, mocking her alleged lack of knowledge about Spidey and making numerous references to her biggest hit, "The Lion King."
On "Weekend Update," Kristen Wiig played the 58-year-old writer of the beleaguered $65 million Broadway musical who left the show on Wednesday after months of problems on set.Seth Meyers asked Wiig's Tony Award-winning alter ego what she thought about critics who claimed her lack of knowledge about “the source material” may be partially to blame for Spidey’s failures."I know everything there is to know about the Spider-Man," Wiig's Taymor replied. "I know about his arch-nemesis the Green Gobler, I know Spider-Man's secret identity is Peter Jessica Parker."
Wiig attempted to steer questions towards Taymor's most successful work to date, "The Lion King,” for which the director won a Tony in 1998 and a cool $4.5 billion, according to Newsweek.
Meyers then praised the director for taking her "firing" from the show so well. In response, Wiig broke into "Can You Feel the Web Tonight" to the tune of Elton John's ""Lion King" hit "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."
Post-"Spider-Man," Wiig's Taymor said she was going back to "simple theater,” helping her niece's high school with a production of "Our Town" -- the only hitch being "the jet packs."
"We're just a smidge over budget, like $44 million," she said, in reference to Spidey's huge price tag.
The parody comes days after it was announced that the opening night of "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" would be pushed back for the sixth time to June 14, following the producers' decision to cancel preview performances in order to implement new changes, which include the hiring of Philip McKinley to take Taymor's place next week.
Sources told the Daily News that Taymor may have been let go because she tried to change Irish rocker Bono’s vision for the show, hiring Broadway musical consultant Paul Bogaec to tune up the music.
"If Bono had wanted Taymor to stay, she'd still be here," one source told The News a day after the Tony-winning Taymor gave up control of the the $65 million Broadway boondoggle. "He's a huge part of the decision-making that goes on."