Andrew Garfield doesn’t mind if fans favor another actor’s portrayal of Spider-Man over his.
Garfield, 40, opened up about playing the Marvel character on Thursday, December 7, during an interview with Variety. “I’ve loved Spider-Man since I was three years old,” he said, noting that he dressed up as the superhero for Halloween as a toddler. “If you love me [as Spider-Man], fine, and if you don’t love me, it’s your loss.”
Along with Garfield, Tom Holland and Toby Maguire have taken on the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man through the years. Elsewhere in the interview, Garfield reflected on joining Holland, 27, and Maguire, 48, in 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
“I think until all three of us were in the room rehearsing, figuring out what we were going to do, there was no way of writing it,” he said, adding, “Every single one of us had our own version of that character and we didn’t know how they were going to interact, until they were actually interacting in the room together.”
Garfield joked that the vibe on set was as if they “were making a low-budget short film with friends” even though “it was the biggest movie in the history of movies.”
To prepare for slipping back into his Spider-Man suit, he ate “soup and berries” and trained “at Parkour and yoga.” Garfield also noted, “I helped with the script. I need to nourish that child who is out there watching.”
Before Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered, Garfield and Maguire continuously denied they were involved in any way.
“It was stressful, I’m not gonna lie,” Garfield told TheWrap in January 2022. “It was rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable.”
He continued, “I don’t like to lie and I’m not a good liar, but I kept framing it as a game … I would want the actor to do an incredibly good job at convincing me he wasn’t in it. And then I would want to lose my mind in the theater when my instinct was proven right.”
Maguire initially portrayed the superhero in three movies from 2002 to 2007 before Garfield took over for two Amazing Spider-Man films in 2012 and 2014. Holland has been playing the character since 2016, and while fans have strong opinions about which Spider-Man reigns supreme, the actors have all formed a close bond.
In June, Holland revealed he has a “great group chat” with Garfield and Maguire, named “The Spider-Man Boys,” per The Hollywood Reporter.
He continued, “Myself, Andrew, Tobey — we have this amazing bond as three people who have been through something that is so unique that we really are like brothers.”
