No matter what else went wrong with the Amazing Spider-Man movies, Andrew Garfield’s passion for the character was never in doubt. Unfortunately, along with being deeply invested in something comes the opportunity to be deeply let down.
Garfield was asked what he learned from being Spider-Man and his answer is, well, very bleak:
Well, nothing, because I was never Spider-Man. Because Spider-Man’s a fictional character. He’s not real. [laughs] You know what’s funny, to give you the vulnerable answer, I thought I was going to be Spider-Man, you know? I went into it going...ego shit came in. It’s like, “Okay, here it is. I’m f***ing Spider-Man. I f***ing made it.” All that shit. [laughs] I didn’t actually make it. I was never Spider-Man.
I was the actor that I am. The person that I am. Struggling with trying to match up with something that I’d elevated so high in my mind. Elevated beyond what I could attain, what I could achieve. The great thing is, that’s what Peter Parker was doing as well. Peter Parker created this symbol that he couldn’t live up to. It was never enough. He never felt enough, and I never felt enough. I never felt like I was able to do enough. And I couldn’t rescue those films...even though I didn’t sleep. [laughs]
And I wanted to...not to say that I needed to rescue those films, but I couldn’t make them as deep and soulful and...life-giving as I could ever dream. And I’m never gonna be able to do that, with any film. It was especially difficult in that situation because...well, just because. And it was especially important because that character has always meant so much to me, and you saw that if you saw the Comic Con thing, which, thank you for reminding me about that.
The idea that he lost sleep over Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just the saddest thought. Garfield really did get his dream job and then watched a bunch of decisions he had no part of rip it apart. Sigh.
Anyway, can’t wait to see the third actor in a decade take on the role!
[Zaki’s Corner via Comic Book Movie]
Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.