One of the world’s most popular characters is back on the big screen as a new chapter in the Spider-Man legacy, which is revealed in The Amazing Spider-Man. The new movie stars Andrew Garfield and his real life love Emma Stone, and focuses on a different side of the Peter Parker story. Like most teenagers, Peter Parker is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. He is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors, his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero. I sat down with Garfield who talked about the film and what it was like to be tapped to play the high-flying superhero!
How about the first time you put on the costume? I would imagine that’s when it really hits home?
When you first wear it, it’s like, “Okay, here we are. I better savor this moment.” And it is a surreal thing when you see yourself embodying something that’s meant so much to you. But then there is a really interesting thing about it because it doesn’t belong to you. You very quickly realize that it isn’t you in the suit, it’s just you doing your job. It actually has nothing to do with you. The suit is what people love and whatever body is in
that suit doesn’t really matter. That’s what I find so wonderful about this character is that he is everyone’s and he is everyone.
Was it surreal when you found out you’d gotten the gig as Spidey?
I [felt like I had] won the lottery, in a way, that I actually get to play an extended game for a couple of years. And like any game, sometimes you get hurt and sometimes you have a little cry and you get back up and you start playing again. It was just a long playtime.
Young Peter has some pretty heavy issues to deal with in this story.
In this version of the Peter Parker story, the focus is on him being an orphan and him searching for his identity and never really having a sense of it up until this point where he gets guided to Oscorp and ultimately being bit by this radioactive, genetically engineered spider.
I was watching some of the behind the scenes and set footage, and there were a lot of pretty extreme stunts that you did yourself. Was that the hardest part of making the film?
The physicality was just so fun because I felt so safe with that aspect of the movie making process because of Andy Armstrong and the stunt team. They were so encouraging and inclusive, and they didn’t treat me in any different way than they did each other. That’s what I love is when you feel part of the community and part of a tribe, and you’re all going for the same goal. That’s how I felt with those guys; so, that wasn’t
the hardest thing.
What do you hope audiences take away from this Spidey tale?
What I wanted for the movie was [to show] the humor and the joy of Peter Parker and Spiderman and the resilience of an orphan. He’s not a victim, in my opinion, and that’s what I tried to achieve. Orphans are the most resilient of all people and that I really wanted to achieve. He’s got such a core of good. That’s what he’s always been. He has heroic impulses without being a hero, even before he obtains his powers; so that, when he does they are very confusing at first but ultimately he becomes who he was meant to be. So the idea of destiny [along with the] humor and lightness is something I really wanted to achieve.
The Amazing Spider-Man opens in theatres nationwide July 3rd. The movie is rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence.