Anyone who gets to play Spider-Man is living a dream come true. Unfortunately, for Andrew Garfield, that dream was brief. Why was his tenure as Peter Parker so short? The answer, as always, is complicated.
The best characters often come from actors with a concrete vision, who can turn stories, experiences, and research into a coherent whole. Garfield believed in the power of this process as fervently as a 25-year-old rookie actor could. After the series’ cancellation, he told The Guardian about the work he’d put in behind the scenes to do right by the character:
“I thought, if I can infuse all this ancient knowledge and wisdom into [Spider-Man], it could be profoundly affecting for young people in the audience. That was always my intention and what I tried to do.”
Unfortunately, the studio didn’t agree. The cutting of character-centric scenes, the promotion of Garfield as a celebrity, and the ultimate reality of The Amazing Spider-Man as a blockbuster series made Garfield’s high-brow ideas unsustainable. He has, at least, made piece with this rift, telling The Guardian in the same interview:
“What I’ll proudly say is that I didn’t compromise who I was, I was only ever myself.”
Watch the video for Why Andrew Garfield Was Replaced As Spider-Man!
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Unwilling to compromise | 0:14
Aiming higher | 1:04
A little too cool | 1:48
Competing with the MCU | 2:54
Following Tobey Maguire | 3:57