While at Comic-Con I had the distinct pleasure, along with several other journalists, to talk Spider-Man 3 with the three newest cast members added to the franchise in Bryce Dallas Howard (Gwen Stacy), Thomas Haden Church (Sandman) and Topher Grace (Venom) and while they had to be extremely careful about what they said and the words "we can't talk about that" seemed to be common place I think we were able to get some good stuff.

Take a read of the interview below:

Question: So you play Gwen Stacy tell us about that.

Bryce Dallas Howard: So I play Gwen Stacy and she is a part of the love triangle between Peter Parker and Mary Jane and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Question: Topher can you talk about playing Venom?

Topher Grace: He's a great character to play. Unlike most bad guys he truly likes being evil. He really comes to grips with it and he enjoys it. So it was fun to play someone that finds their way to that place, it's a fun thing to play as an actor.

Bryce Dallas Howard: And Topher was able to call on his personal life where he loves being evil.

Topher Grace: Yeah, yeah. Before the role I went out and killed a hobo hammer. [laughing] And it worked, it was like all of a sudden people were treating me differently.

Thomas Haden Church: Especially hobos. Stay away from that "'70s Show" guy.

Question: Do any of you ever have a concern about playing in a comic book movie?

Topher Grace: Let's ask the guy who's been nominated for an Oscar.

Thomas Haden Church: You have a tradition with a comic book that you have to honor and then you look at the requisite storytelling that went on with the first two movies. I just wanted to do my part; I wanted to get in the game, be in for one minute, not fumble the ball in the end zone, I just wanted to do what was being asked of me. Sam is such an actor's director I referred to him as Elia Kazan trapped inside this Motor City madman action picture director body.

He just has a great specificity and I think that is part of the allure of the movie, is to create people that are very accessible and hire actors that are very accessible and identifiable to the audience.

Question: Are the villains going to be working together?

Topher Grace: We can't comment.

Thomas Haden Church: I'm actually not even sure I am in the movie. How vague can you get? I may or may not be in Spider-Man 3.

Question: Were you prepared for the technical things in this film that you were going to face?

Thomas Haden Church: I just wanted to see Topher naked.

Topher Grace: Mission accomplished.

Bryce Dallas Howard: Sam really carries you through that and it explains everything with such detail that it brings you into the moment and you forget that you are standing there... naked... with Topher...

Topher Grace: Only for my off camera work.

Question: Were you familiar with the characters in the comics before hand?

Topher Grace: Yeah, I got into it when Todd McFarlane was illustrating the comics in the mid-80s, which fortunately was right when my character was coming into existence and what I love when kids get cast in these movies they are like, "You know I'd never even seen Star Wars before." I was such a big fan of Peter Parker and a lot of the work Todd McFarlane had done so I am probably the geekiest guy to ever be cast in a geek film.

Bryce Dallas Howard: I can confirm that. Actually, one of my friends was saying today, "I am so glad that Topher is here because he is really representing."

Topher Grace: The first day I was on the set I was in the Bugle and like, just as a fan of the first two movies, to be like... you know those theme parks that are like, "We'll put you in the movie." It was tough, because I had to be angry and I was just smiling ear-to-ear.

Question: Is there supposed to be a dichotomy between Eddie Brock and Peter Parker?

Topher Grace: There is, and that is what I liked about the character the most. It's kind of a case study in when someone had the same job and the same taste in women and got the same powers, but had a really bad upbringing. I used to say to Sam [Raimi] on set, "With great power comes great fun."

Question: Brice, could you describe the nature of the love triangle in the film?

Bryce Dallas Howard: Oh yeah, I really can't say anything about any of that. I really, really can't. What I will say about this film is that one thing I am sure audiences noticed about the second film was that it was twice as big as the first film and the third film is twice as big as the entire franchise put together. That's a testament to how much integrity and passion that everyone who's working on this truly has. They could just sit back and say, "We got it. We got the people that are going to be in the seats opening weekend, we got it," and they don't do that. They work so incredibly hard and they push themselves artistically and they push themselves on how to make this the most entertaining film, and as far as Gwen Stacy, Sam is very reverent to everything that the people would expect and yet it is surprising. So, I don't want to give anything away and none of us do because we don't want to betray the audience. They had that opportunity with the first and second film, they really didn't know what they were going to expect and it made it that much more interesting.

Question: How does it feel to be action figures?

Thomas Haden Church: It's weird. It's a little plastic me and I can do whatever I want with me. What is your action figure going to do Bryce?

Bryce Dallas Howard: She's going to have like huge bazoombas. That's pretty much it.

Thomas Haden Church: Now there's something to look forward too. Every eight year-old in China is going to look forward to that.

Question: Thomas can you say anything about your scene with Cliff Robertson?

Thomas Haden Church: Uhhhh... no. Once again, I may or may not be in this movie. No, I really can't comment on any specifics.

Question: How did it have to train for months when Bryce just had to dye her hair?

Thomas Haden Church: It was physically daunting to show up last year with the physique of a fish wife and weirdly they said, "This won't work for us. You've got to be more built." But actually Topher and I both trained...

Topher Grace: He saw slightly better results. [laughing]

Thomas Haden Church: You try to just toe the line and try to do what's asked of you. I've worked out for about 16 months and it is a good discipline to have in my life.

Spider-Man 3 opens in theaters everywhere on May 4, 2007. If you haven't read my interview with director Sam Raimi, Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire you are going to want to do so right now right here.