The funny thing about Sony announcing that there will be a fourth Spider-Man movie in 2018 is that, as of right now, they don't have anyone to play Spider-Man in that particular movie. "Amazing Spider-Man" star Andrew Garfield, 29, is only signed for three movies and, as you'll read below, he isn't 100 percent on board with the idea of swinging through the streets of Manhattan as a 35-year-old man.
When I met Garfield at a San Diego hotel, he was in an extremely jovial mood. Garfield is an introspective fellow, but he's also got a playful side. Here at San Diego Comic Con -- just a few minutes before he stole the show at the "Amazing Spider-Man 2" panel by pretending to be Spider-Man-- that playful mood is on full display. Garfield admitted that he, like the rest of us, didn't fully understand why the first "Amazing Spider-Man" was, once again, an origin story. Still, it's obvious that he's genuinely excited for this next non-origin chapter, "The Amazing Spider-Man 2."
(Garfield, ever polite, asked who I had interviewed before him at here at Comic-Con, so that's where this interview begins.)
The last thing I posted was an interview with Alfonso Cuaron for "Gravity."
Oh, wow. Fuck. I saw the trailer for that. Holy shit. Unbelievable.
You should work with him.
Oh, I'd love to. Are you kidding me? I'd jump at it.
Do you even have time to make movies other than Spider-Man?
It takes a lot. It does take a lot. The only thing I did in-between the first and the second is a play in New York. But, yeah, man -- it's something I think about a lot. I love it. I love doing this. I feel genuinely honored.
I do miss you doing stuff like "Never Let Me Go."
I miss doing stuff like that. It's been awhile since I've done anything like that.
I know Spider-Man movies take a lot of time.
Time and energy. The way I work, I give it all. So, after, I'm kind of a husk of a person and I need to rest and regenerate in a way, you know. Unfortunately -- or fortunately -- I'm not one of those actors who can go from job to job. I need to really replenish.
I've heard you have a stunt planned for Hall H today.
[Smiles] What do you mean?
I heard that you may try to swing in.
Oh, really?
You're smiling.
[Laughs]
Are you nervous?
I'm going to trust you. Because, why not?
I'm sure we'd never speak again if I betrayed you.
That's right! And I'll make sure of it! No, I am nervous because it's the most important audience, you know? And I want to give them something. I don't know what I can give them.
Last time you gave that impassioned speech.
That's all I could give in that moment and this is all I can give in this moment. I want to give them not a generic panel. Just for me, from my perspective, it's just a bunch of actors patting themselves on the back.
And a few inside jokes.
Exactly. It's like, "Remember that day on page 59 where you and I did the thing?" End of panel. So, hopefully this will -- I mean, it could fail miserably.
If you did swing in, I wouldn't want to see you wind up in the hospital.
Oh, don't say that.
Would you be high up?
Oh, no, no. I'm not silly. I'm a little silly, but I'm not stupid.
It will be hard to top you playing basketball in New York City while wearing the Spider-Man costume.
Ah, but was it me?
Was it you?
[Laughs] Yes, it was me.
You had to know that would make the Internet.
No, I had no idea.
Is it hard to take a three point shot wearing a Spider-Man costume?
Dude, I was so nervous. I was so nervous. I don't want disappoint these kids.
"Spider-Man is not very good at sports."
Yeah, rubbish! One of the things that Spider-Man teaches me is that you give whatever you can in any given moment and that's always enough, you know what I mean? And there were two kids and they weren't all that excited to hang out. I was like, "Can I play?" I was expecting them to be like, "Oh, yeah, Spider-Man!" But they were like, "Yeah."
That's even a better story that they weren't impressed.
Right. Exactly.
I'll be honest. I liked the first "The Amazing Spider-Man" well enough, but it was the origin story again. I'm looking forward to this next one because I'm excited to see something new. Does that make sense?
Perfect sense. I feel the same way.
So you felt like that with the first one?
I feel the exact same way. We were beholden to setting up a universe and not only was that not my choice, it was the studio. At that point I didn't have much input in terms of what we were doing.
Do you have input now?
You know what? I've been welcomed to the fold. During the first one I was really welcomed in during filming ... they've taken me in as a true collaborator. There were things in the first one -- there was an entire sequence that was all kind of mine. The skateboard sequence was all mine. So, that was awesome that ended up in the movie.
So when you watch that scene you're proud of that.
Absolutely. Absolutely. But those were the things that we needed in order to set it apart from Tobey Maguire running across rooftops.
Have you two met?
Yeah. Yeah.
How does that conversation go?
Great. He's a lovely guy. I don't know him very well.
Do you share Spider-Man war stories?
We never really got around to it. We did a play reading together at a friend's house -- actually, "Death of a Salesman," which I ended up going and doing in New York. But, we played brothers in it and it was just kind of this awesome thing where we got to work together. But he's only ever been supportive and lovely. He's a good man. But I completely relate to what you said about like, "Why? Come on, guys, why are we doing this again? I asked those questions, too.
I do realize "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" hasn't even come out yet. But Marc Webb is already saying the newly announced part 4 will be a lot different than the other movies. Do you know anything about that?
I know nothing. I read that news story. I was like, "What?"
Are you under contract for a fourth movie?
No [laughs].
So you're just sitting at home one day and you learn that there's a part 4?
Yeah. I didn't freak out -- I was like, "Oh, that's them getting the release dates fixed."
Are you under contract for three movies?
Yeah. I signed a contract at the beginning of the first one for three.
If you do decide to do part 4, you'll be around 35 years old.
[Laughing] Ohhhh ...
It could be interesting to see an older Spider-Man?
I don't think it would! It would be so inappropriate! He's a boy. He's always a boy.
Well, now he is. But but the time we get to the fourth movie ...
But when has Spider-Man ever not been a boy? He's always in the throes of deep angst, you know what I mean?
So you don't like the idea of a 35-year-old Spider-Man?
I think it would be weird. I mean, I look like I'm 12 years old. So, that helps. But I don't particularly really want to act like, "Gee, golly," with a spinning hat.
Since you're a collaborator now, that should be your suggestion for the fourth movie. Peter is 35 and wears a spinning hat.
With a massive beard and a beer gut. And doing heroin.
Now there's your dark Spider-Man movie.
You know, never say never. Of course. I adore this character and as long as I get to play him in a way that I feel is movie the mythology forward and breaking ground with it and giving that core group of fans what they need, then I'm game.
I would wish you luck with this movie but I feel nothing will stop it from doing really, really well.
[Laughs] It could be an hour and a half of me doing this [mimes smoking a cigarette] going "I'm Spider-Man. I'm Spider-Man" and it would make millions of dollars.
Mike Ryan is senior writer for Huffington Post Entertainment. You can contact him directly on Twitter.
