Paul Giamatti to play Rhino
 

According to Hollywood Reporter Paul Giamatti is in talks to play Rhino in Amazing Spiderman 2. How Rhino would play in with Jamie Fox's Electro is anyone's guess.

....I did not see that one coming. And who's casting this movie? Blind Al? :p

Don't get me wrong, I think both Jamie Fox and Paul Giamatti are excellent actors in their own right. But Jamie seems too built to play Electro (not to mention the indirect references to Black Lightning and Static-X) and Paul seems too short and pudgy to play Rhino.

Honestly, I would have expected them to cast a pro wrestler to play Rhino. He never was one of the brightest of Peter's rogues, so it wouldn't be that difficult of a role and most pro wrestlers know how to play a street-thug/supervillain. My money would have been on Batista, assuming he's still around.

meh who knows, I didn't think Tom Hardy was buff enough to play Bane but he pulled it off. Paul Giamatti is a great actor and plays baddies well, thought he was quite good in that awful Clive Owen non stop shooting film - the name escapes me :S

And now it's looking like Venom will show up, or at least a tease of Venom for the fans.

I'm pretty sure Rhino was in ASM moaning about Merlot one time, so there's some unexpected synergy.

Come to think of it, perfect casting for Rhino would have been ECW's own Rhino!

As for Venom being in the new series, I think I would be ok with it - only so long as the focus of the movie he actually appears in is entirely on the symbiote/Eddie Brock and no other villains.

It makes sense for the character. wasn't rhino an out-of-shape guy before he got the suit?

Not really. He was a Russian thug-for-hire and "was chosen for his muscular physique and low intelligence" according to his Marvel Wiki entry.