Andrew Garfield On How "Corporate" Held His Spider-Man Back

01/02/2017 11:47 am EST

Andrew Garfield had the role of a lifetime when he was cast as Spider-Man for Sony Pictures' reboot of the franchise. Garfield played the role in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but Spider-Man was recast when Sony made a deal with Marvel Studios to add Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now that he's not longer playing Spider-Man, Garfield has made some candid comments about his experience working on The Amazing Spider-Man films, including saying that he "struggled" with the role.

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Now The Hollywood Reporter reports that Garfield signed on for those two films without seeing a script, and didn't realize quite what he was getting into. "The four-year-old inside of me would not have it any other way," Garfield said, but then noted that "the corporate mindset," which was attempting to create the least objectionable films possible, was not to his liking.

"I had to fight really, really hard to make sure that the character was honored and that we were offering something really fun, entertaining and also moving and complex and deep for all the young boys and girls that want to see their favorite superhero," Garfield explained. Garfield himself has adored Spider-Man since he was three years old. "So many beautiful things came out of that. I met someone that remains incredibly important to my life on that — you can fill in the blanks on who that is." That important person is likely Emma Stone, Garfield's Amazing Spider-Man co-star and his ex-girlfriend who played Peter Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacy.

Garfield went on to say, "But the difference between how I felt when Never Let Me Go and The Social Network were coming out and how I felt with The Amazing Spider-Man franchise was that I didn't feel represented. I was feeling very represented by those other two films, and with The Amazing Spider-Man stuff I didn't feel like that was my work up there, in a weird way. It felt like a semblance of it or kind of a shade of it, but ultimately I felt it was enshrouded in that filter."

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The role of Spider-Man has since been given over to Tom Holland. Holland and Spider-Man both made their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Captain America: Civil War. The first Spider-Man movie to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be Spider-Man: Homecoming, opening July 7, 2017.

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