NEW PHOTOS: Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb - ‘THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN’ (behind the scenes)
This Week’s Cover: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ heads up your Summer Must List ( Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, May 25)
In our early look at one of this summer’s most feverishly anticipated tentpoles, we get all of the inside scoop from Garfield, Stone, Webb, and Rhys Ifans — who plays Spidey’s latest onscreen nemesis, Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. The Lizard.
You’ll also learn the fateful origin story of how Garfield’s landed the role of a lifetime. The 28-year-old Social Network star grew up idolizing Peter Parker and even had the photo to prove it — a family snapshot of him at age 3 in a Spider-Man costume, which he sent to director Marc Webb after he auditioned for the part. When he sent the picture, Garfield was sure he wasn’t going to get the role, but it was his way of saying thank you for the experience. Says Webb, “That photo killed me. And with it, Andrew wrote a very moving email about why Spider-Man had such an impact on him. He’d felt bullied as a kid, and Spider-Man allowed him to work out those issues in his imagination. You almost get the sense that playing this part was his destiny.” (source)
Exclusive: New Spider-Man is nervous around girls, director reveals
The film boasts a new face behind the mask (The Social Network’s Andrew Garfield) and a tweaked origins story for the webslinger, which finds Peter struggling to investigate why his parents disappeared and coming to grips with his newfound, arachnid-style abilities.
For Webb, the appeal wasn’t simply in playing on a much bigger scale; he still wanted to find the beating heart amidst the spectacle.
“Peter Parker is the access point. I was always a Spider-Man fan, but I was more a Peter Parker fan. When you see the movie, I don’t think anyone will be worried about the emotional heart of it,” he said.
“There is an incredibly innocent and tender quality to Peter Parker. He’s not a billionaire, he’s not an alien, he’s a kid. He has trouble with the people who raise him and talking to girls and it’s that relatability which is all through the movie. That’s a texture that for me was really intuitive. It’s something I love in movies, particularly with that romantic dimension. I’m very familiar with being made nervous by women!”
“The interpersonal relationships that Peter has are so simple and so domestic that it’s a very fun dichotomy to play that massive spectacle alongside the very small moments. In a very real way, there’s an intimate indie movie at the heart of Spider-Man.”
Part of his challenge was showing Parker in a way that hasn’t been seen before; with a take on the youthful hero that springs from his troubled past.
“The first domino in this movie is Peter getting left behind by his parents. I thought to myself, ‘how does that change your view on the world?’ And to me it creates a level of distrust. There’s a sarcasm that comes from that, and the quippiness, that comes from the chip on his shoulder— he’s a little bit mean and snarky,” Marc revealed.
“That’s an attitude that we can all understand and relate to, but I think it comes from a genuine place. It was fun to explore the humour, because it comes from a real place, it’s not just slapped on.”
Webb added that he feels like we’ve seen the origins of Spider-Man, but not Peter Parker. However, Webb feels that Spider-Man legacy is still alive and well in this film.
“There are certain iconic elements of Spider-Man that I felt obligated to honour,” he said.” (source)