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Spider-Man Star Andrew Garfield Talks Lessons Learned Beyond Franchise

Published Sun, 07 Nov 2021 11:18:09 -0600

The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield originally thought he was getting an experience of a lifetime when Sony cast him in the title role as Peter Parker for director Marc Webb's franchise that succeeded Sam Raimi's that starred Tobey Maguire. Having last played the role in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and unofficially passing that torch to Tom Holland as the current incarnation of the Web-Head, Garfield's body of work still stands alone acting powerhouse with memorable roles in Hacksaw Ridge (2016), Never Let Me Go (2010), The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021), and The Social Network (2010). While promoting his upcoming work Lin-Manuel Miranda's tick, tick…Boom! the actor opened up with the Guardian about what his life as the Marvel hero taught him and his takeaway from the experience.

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Andrew Garfield Says He Never Got Call — Image courtesy of Sony Pictures

Learning from His Spider-Man Dreams

"I got my heart broken a little bit," the American-British actor said. "I went from being a naive boy to growing up… How could I ever imagine that it was going to be a pure experience? There are millions of dollars at stake and that's what guides the ship. It was a big awakening and it hurt." ASM films grossed an excess of $1.4 billion combined at the box office, but Sony decided to shift direction when the 2014 film felt short nearly $50 million of its predecessor.

"Comic-Con in San Diego is full of grown men and women still in touch with that pure thing the character meant to them. [But] you add in market forces and test groups and suddenly the focus is less on the soul of it and more on ensuring we make as much money as possible," Garfield said. "And I found that — find that — heartbreaking in all matters of the culture. Money is the thing that has corrupted all of us and led to the terrible ecological collapse that we are all about to die under…I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding. [Pause.] I mean, it'll take a bunch of years before that happens".

Garfield will always accept how much the Sony franchise continues to affect his career. "I wanted to be Spider-Man since before I was able to speak," he said, "but I think a lot of what I've done since has been about balancing myself out in a way. I think 'Hacksaw Ridge' and 'Silence' were a part of that. I think '99 Homes' was a part of that." Guess whether or not he cameos in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home alongside his peers remains to be seen since villains from the previous Raimi and Webb films are confirmed to be crossing over.

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