Andrew Garfield wouldn’t say no to playing Spider-Man again
The Amazing Spider-Man star is "definitely open" to reprising his take on Peter Parker again
Aux News Spider-Man
[Note: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home, although they’re mostly ones that were already public knowledge, like, a month before the movie came out.]
As a character, Spider-Man taps into many of those elements that actors crave most in a part: Backflips. Angst. A dearth of inconvenient, moralizing uncles. Ever more complicated backflips.
So it’s not entirely surprising to hear that Andrew Garfield might still be open to taking on the role of Peter Parker once again. He revealed as much in a recent interview with Variety, in which he talked about, yes, his role in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick… Boom!, but also that thing he hasn’t been able to talk about for months, i.e., Spider-Man: No Way Home.
It’s a pretty fun interview overall, which is unsurprising, given how fun Garfield typically is in these sorts of situations. (Sadly, we get no updates on Nicolas Cage’s horse Rain Man, but so it goes.) Among other things, he talks about the scene that convinced him to return to the Spidey franchise, i.e., the bit where his version of Peter gets a second chance at the most tragic moment of the Amazing Spider-Man duology.
When asked whether he’d ever come back for the part in a more central way, Garfield seemed to be game, albeit with the usual “It has to be good” caveats:
I mean, yes, definitely open to something if it felt right. Peter and Spider-Man, those characters are all about service, to the greater good and the many. He’s a working-class boy from Queens that knows struggle and loss and is deeply empathetic. I would try to borrow Peter Parker’s ethical framework in that, if there was an opportunity to step back in and tell more of that story, I would have to feel very sure and certain in myself.
In other portions of the interview, Garfield talks about the experience of filming with Tom Holland and fellow former Spidey Tobey Maguire, including noting that he improvised the moment when his Peter tells his Spider-Bros he loves them. (“That was just me loving them,” he notes.) Elsewhere, he also noted that he and Maguire—who were both banned from the film’s premiere for spoiler reasons—snuck into a screening together to watch the film on opening day.
47 Comments
Never really watched his Spidey movies—gave the first one a half-hearted watch and caught the end of the second one. Really liked him in No Way Home so I decided to give Amazing Spider-man movies a shot. And… I really liked them. The second one definitely had a Batman and Robin vibe at times with the villains in both look and acting, but for the most part I thought the acting was kiiiinda the best out of every spider-man movie. And I liked the arc that carried through both movies centered around OsCorp and Gwen Stacy and her family. I would definitely watch another one with Garfield. It wasn’t until his appearance that I kind of realized that Tom Holland’s Peter has actually had a pretty easy ride so far.
I really liked Emma Stone in both of those. There’s a moment when she’s in the taxi on the way out of town in the second one and realizes that Peter’s coming to try and win her back that’s just a great five seconds of facial expressions.
She’s probably the best female lead in any of the Spidey movies. My biggest problem with Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the guy who plays Harry Osborn. He’s actually scarier to look at than Willem Defoe at his most maniacal. I don’t know why they tried to make that guy a star for a couple years there.
I mean, I guess it’s been 10 years since I tried but I couldn’t get into ASM at all.
I couldn’t either, so I was kind of surprised how much I enjoyed it this time around. I really think Sony is going to make another one with him. Best of both worlds. (except for the fact that everyone in the movies is using Sony phones and laptops.) But they can keep letting Marvel use Holland’s Spidey and reap the benefits from that, and have their very own Spider-Man. I wonder if there’s any truth to the rumor that part of the Morbius delay was to add a scene with Garfield.
Well, there is some unique possibilities. If they go for another Garfield S-M we’re talking ~2025? He’ll be 41. We haven’t done that yet in live action S-Ms. What kind of material is there for old(er) spider-man? I don’t read comics.Or, would they try and make him a 41 year old 25 year old?
I don’t know how they could adapt it for a movie, but Chip Zdarsky’s Spider-Man Life Story has a much older Peter Parker.
Ya, you really need the response part to make ASMR worth it.
I think his movies suffer a bit because they’re dealing with some pretty clear second stringers in the villain department that aren’t done any favors by the film CGIing the shit out of them. The Green Goblin and Doc Ock are standout villains with relatively unique designs and multiple seminal Spider-Man stories to mine for their big screen adaptations. They’d be top shelf in anybody’s rogues gallery. Most heroes have some version of “energy shooting guy” or “monster with claws,” and the only reason Electro and the Lizard are higher profile is because they get to fight Spider-Man instead of Moon Knight. The Amazing movies actually pulled a lot of stuff from stories that had Ock or the Goblin as the villain in the comics because there really isn’t a definitive Electro moment. Homecoming handled a B-list villain a lot better by getting an A-list actor with some natural unhinged energy to bring something new to it.
None of that is a problem with Garfield, though, and the moment that he says brought him back is probably my favorite in the movie.
I’d actually forgotten that the scene where Gwen dies, he actually manages to get her with the webbing before she hits the ground, but her head slams and she dies from that (or a broken back). It was one of the grislier, shocking deaths in comic book movies, really, and surprisingly impactful given that you knew it was coming.
And I’m still not sure if I like or hate the fact that basically every metahuman in the Amazing Spider-verse was created by Oscorp.
I still think TASM 2 would have been considered a good superhero movie pre-MCU. By 2014 many people were just too used to the MCU style, so something that adhered more to the previous era of superhero movies like TASM 2 would’ve looked silly in comparison.
Something I read basically summed up the Spidey movies series as:Tobey- Best second Spider-man movie
Andrew- Best first Spider-man movie
Tom- Best third Spider-man movie.That seems pretty accurate. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the first TASM when I watched it last week. Maybe because of the same reason TASM 2 failed- it wasn’t like the MCU. And at this point, 10 years after the first Andrew Garfield movie, it’s sort of refreshing to get a non-MCU take.
Yeah, last month I also went back to watch 2013’s the Wolverine, the one where he went to Japan, and I surprisingly loved it even more now. It’s so starkly non-MCU that it feels really fresh.
I think my problem was that TASM was more or less beat for beat the same as Toby McGuire’s Spider-Man in terms of major story beats. There are a lot of great details in the movie and the acting, but as a fan wanting to see a different story than the one we’ve seen over and over, it definitely failed.
i think the weirdest thing about the first ASM is how much it’s trying to ape nolan’s batman movies. i always thought garfield looked exactly like how mark bagely drew him, and that was the spidey artist when i was a kid
I didn’t love either of the TASM movies, but I do think it’s weird how the “elite” consensus became that both were extremely mediocre and forgettable. I thought both were quite well made, the second one just had a little too much setup for future installments that we never saw (at least not yet). (And that downer ending, oof.)
I really liked the fact the his Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy really sort of seemed to love each other in a pure kind of way, instead of the ‘sort of tolerates him’ way that Zendaya’s MJ seems to feel about Tom Holland’s Peter Parker or the ‘tragic angst love, but certainly open to dumping him the moment someone better comes along’ way that Dunst’s Mary Jane always seemed to feel about Maguire’s Peter Parker.
Yeah, they definitely seemed to have the most real kind of relationship of, well, really anyone in a SM movie.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – First 10 minutes
The first ten minutes of Amazing Spider-Man 2 are about as good as Spidey gets on screen.
The action is fantastic, but… I just can’t get past Paul Giamatti turning up to 1000% for that entire stretch.
I wouldn’t be opposed if he were to lend his voice to the coming Spider-Verse flicks (likewise with Tobey Maguire, Tom Holland, and heck, why not Christopher Daniel Barnes and even Donald Glover while we’re at it), but one appearance in the MCU is enough as far as I’m concerned. And I certainly don’t think we need a third ongoing film series to keep track of (fourth, if we’re including Sony’s Spidey-villain films).That said, money is money (right, G/O Media?), so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen.
Let Webb come back and edit TASM 1&2 and put out Director’s Cuts.Make Garfield the Spider-Man in the Venom -verse. Print money.
I liked him as Spider-Man. It was a shame his movies weren’t better, but I never had a problem with his performances.
I’ve seen No Way Home twice now and gauging theater reactions, his Spider-man stole the show. Had a ton of memorable lines and heartwarming moments. People are rooting for him to get his due.
By no means do I wanna get rid of Tom Holland, but if Sony and Disney are fine with having two Spider-man franchises, why not? I’d love it if superheroes weren’t tied to one actor or storyline.
Garfield is a bit like Brandon Routh as Superman. Likable chap who was good in his role as an iconic superhero, but wasn’t done any favors by the stories. It was good to see them both get chances at going back and putting a bit of closure on their tenures.
Routh came back to the role in the CW’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, and his arc was really satisfying for those who watched Superman Returns and thought he deserved better. The issue there was, well, the rest of the CW – though Crisis was a high point.
I stopped watching Supergirl when it moved to CW, mainly because I was still watching TV via rabbit-ear antenna, and our local CW station was just about impossible to get in. But I did make the effort when I read about the “Crisis” event, and was really glad I did. I didn’t like “Superman Returns” much at all, but was really glad Brandon Routh got another, better shot.
Now if we can only get George Lazenby another shot as James Bond…
Now if we can only get George Lazenby another shot as James Bond…Hell no. I’ve watch OHMSS multiple times over the years (just to ogle at Diana Rigg 😉) and he gets worse with every viewing.
Well, the idea is that maybe he’d have gotten better. But if he was someone who could improve, he probably wouldn’t have turned down the chance in the first place. If that makes sense.
It’s one of the best. Definitely ahead of its time.
I took my daughters to No Way Home. They’re both huge MCU, Holland fans, and the first thing they asked me after the film was if we could watch the Garfield movies.
Agreed 100%. Garfield’s bit where he saved MJ from the fall brought me to tears, and I haven’t seen either of his Spidey films. He absolutely stole every scene he was in.
Garfield’s puppy doggish performance in No Way Home managed to make me feel bad for ragging on his movies so much. I don’t know the true feasibility of bringing him back, but I’d definitely watch a Spider-Bros franchise of him and Maguire hopping from dimension to dimension, helping various Spider-Persons in need.
I’ve seen enough of Maguire for a lifetime, so I hope they just retire his version or relegate him to cameo appearances at most.
Swinging from ‘verse to ‘verse, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that the next “thwip”… would be the “thwip” home.
Andrew Garfield wasn’t the problem with his Amazing Spider-Man movies. For some reason Sony had to hand the reins to Marvel Studios and make complicated IP sharing arrangements for concepts like “write a good script” and “cast the villains memorably.”Garfield was a guest character in the third act of No Way Home and he absolutely shined. He had a clear motive, purpose, role in the story, and relation to the other characters. Good thing Marvel was involved to keep such radical concepts in play.
LMFAO!
I would love more ASM-verse Spider-flicks but required ingredient is Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy. And she dead.But I would have zero problem if they Clone Saga her back in or alt-verse Spider-Gwen her back in. 2nd one could be dope although a wee bit samey after Spider-Verse and No Way Home. But I won’t complain too loudly.
I really didn’t like him as Peter. Too arrogant and self-centered.
I’d love to see like an animated show giving us more adventures of his Spider-Man. And, Tobey Maguire’s Spidey as well. At the very least, they can show up in the next Spider-Verse movie. Tom Holland, too, for that matter.
We watched Tick, Tick… Boom! a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome! Garfield doesn’t resemble Jonathon Larson in the least, other than having an unruly head of hair, but he nailed it.He’s the man if they ever decide to make a movie version of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.
I want an “Old Man Parker” with Tobey Maguire.
I’ve always thought Garfield was a great Spidey just bogged down by bad scripts in the Amazing movies and I feel like NWH validated that opinion. So yeah, if he wants to come back by all means let him.
How can we take this man on his word ever again?I bet in fact he WOULD say no to playing Spider Man again!
#GarfieldTheLiar
If Columbia Studios is smart, they will look into setting up a streaming show based on his version of Spider-Man. Have 7 – 9 episodes per season. Each episode can be roughly 30 minutes uncut. They can have one major action sequence per episode. This can be licensed to air on Disney Plus or wherever. This can simply be its own world. No MCU references. Just concentrate on this Peter and his continued adventures.
Oh look, an actor responds to the hypothetical question of “Would you like to make more money playing ‘Character X’?” and they say “Yes”.