Andrew Garfield says his work as Spider-Man felt “undone” before No Way Home
Seven years had passed by the time Garfield donned the iconic suit for one last go
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By the time Andrew Garfield made his cameo as Peter Parker in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: No Way Home, it had been seven years since the title of the webbed slinging hero had last been his. As his fellow Spider-Men—Holland and Tobey Maguire—carved out trilogies as the lead Marvel hero, Garfield’s time as Spider-Man can feel cut short, with just two films under his belt.
In a new interview with GQ, Garfield says while he takes the experience as what it was, there was this looming feeling of incompletion when it came to the role of Spider-Man, and sought closure the way one would after the end of a relationship.
“I was very open to it being whatever it was meant to be,” Garfield says. “But there was an undone feeling. Like, ‘What was that experience about? And how do I close that circle in my living room on my own?’ And I was doing that—and then it was like that classic thing, when you’re getting over a relationship, and you’re first starting to really feel free and untethered from that thing—the person knows to call the hour after the first good night’s sleep you’ve had.”
When those over at Marvel did come knocking once again for his secret involvement in No Way Home, Garfield was able to take on a different role this time in the MCU.
“Doing [No Way Home] was really just kind of beautiful. I got to treat it like a short film about Spider-Man with buddies,” Garfield says. “The pressure was off of me. It was all on Tom’s shoulders. Like, it’s his trilogy. And me and Tobey were there to provide support and have as good a time as possible, actually, and be as inventive, imaginative, and kind of dumb as possible. Y’know, between the three of us, I was like, Oh shit, this is going to be interesting. You have three people who feel real ownership over this character. But it was really, like, brotherhood first, I think. And I think that comes through in what we shot.”
While Holland remains strapped into the role of Peter Parker, Garfield also had the freedom of returning to the set, doing his thing, and then moving on. He’s even been on a bit of a break from taking on work after knocking out No Way Home, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, Under The Banner Of Heaven, and Tick, Tick… Boom! It certainly looks like he got the closure he was looking for, and hopefully hung up the Spidey suit once last time with ease.
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One last go … so far!
By the time Andrew Garfield made his cameo as Peter Parker in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: No Way Home.Uh, cameo? He was in the movie for at least 45 minutes.
lol to the people that think him or Tobey will spin-off into more of their films.
There’s no chance they will, but I don’t blame people for rooting for it. Both of them got screwed out of another movie by the studio forcing their directors to make overstuffed, borderline-nonsensical films, and they each have their loyalists who keep hoping they’ll see some dangling story threads resolved. (I gave up on a fourth Raimi/Maguire film long ago, but I did hold out hope for years, including after they’d already announced the first reboot.)And to be fair, one can’t count out anything for a revival these days, no matter how illogical or unlikely.
While I’ve never liked the Webb films, Garfield’s performance was always the best part of them. He seemed to “get” Spider-Man’s sense of humour in a way that Tobey Maguire didn’t.
They did a really good job with bringing him back and giving him an actual arc. I was at one of the theaters where the entire crowd cheered for both him and Maguire when they appeared.
I think the first ASM is genuinely great, and I loved the original comic-accurate look of the Lizard, as well as the sheer size and brutality of him. But man, Garfield got absolutely boned. With Sony so desperate to have their own version of the MCU that they bloated ASM 2 until the carcass burst, and having to turn to Marvel for an idea on how to right their ship (I think ASM2 actually made a lot of money, just not what they were looking for, and the critics slaughtered it), it left Garfield in the lurch.Of *course* Marvel would chomp at the bit to have the most commercially successful superhero and one of the most loved in the world be a part of the MCU, and of *course* they absolutely would only want to do it within the constraints of their long-term story plan. So that meant no baggage. By getting rid of Garfield, that meant not having to worry about the dangling plot lines or history of the ASM movies.I felt bad for the guy. I thought he was pretty good as Spidey, all things considered (his dick-ish temper issues was very early Lee/Ditko Spidey), and even though No Way Home was 110% fan service, as a die-hard Spider-Man fan, it made me cry happy tears.
I really enjoyed the risk they took in including the two previous Spidermen in No Way Home. It’s a reminder that while Marvel and Disney may be massive corporations, there are still people involved in the movies who just want to have some fun. I’m guessing the behind the scenes legal wrangling of licensing and ownership issues should have prevented this from ever happening, but as a wise man once said, “with great power comes great responsibility”. If any company had the power to make some thing like this happen, it’s Disney. And watching on screen, I felt like I was watching old friends having a reunion. A FUN reunion.