When the announcement came that British actor Andrew Garfield would be squeezing into the iconic red and blue spandex in Marc Webb‘s upcoming Spider-Man reboot, most Americans reacted with a collective “Who?” After Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go and David Fincher‘s The Social Network hit theaters later this month, though, Garfield will quickly become a familiar face stateside. By the time the gritty Spider-Man reboot is released, we could very well be sick of hearing about him.
But for now, Garfield remains relatively unknown in the U.S. He recently spoke out for the first time to The Hollywood Reporter on landing the role of Peter Parker, calling it “a true f-cking honor” to play a character he’s wanted to be all his life.
“I have been waiting for this phone call for 24 years, for someone to call me up and say, “Hey, we want you to pretend to be a character that you’ve always wanted to be all your life, and we’re going to do it with cool cameras and cool effects and you’re going to feel like you’re swinging through New York City. Do you want to do that?” [laughs] “Let me just consult with my seven-year old self and see what he thinks…” So my seven-year-old self started screaming in my soul and saying, This is what we’ve been waiting for. Like every young boy who feels stronger on the inside than they look on the outside, any skinny boy basically who wishes their muscles matched their sense of injustice, God, it’s just the stuff that dreams are made of, for sure. It’s a true f*cking honor to be part of this symbol that I actually think is a very important symbol and it’s meant a great deal to me, and it continues to mean something to people. So yeah, I feel like I’ve been preparing for it for a while. Ever since Halloween when I was four years old and I wore my first Spider-Man costume.”
Spider-Man Something or Other: 3-D (it still doesn’t have a title, but the plan is to shoot in full 3-D) is slated for a July 3, 2012 release. Rumor has it the film will focus on Peter Parker developing his new superpowers while in high school (or, because Garfield is 27, college). There is speculation that the film will be based mainly on the Ultimate Spider-man comic book story line. That rumor itself is based on the fact that Brian Michael Bendis, creator of the comic series, tweeted after meeting with the movie team. The rumor mill also has fans excitedly hoping that the Lizard will be the villain.
Whoever the bad guy is, though, let’s hope there’s only one this time (I’m looking at you, Spider-Man 3).
Spider-Man reboot, good idea or waste of time?