Speaking in an interview to the Guardian, Andrew Garfield remarked that the spider man experience changed him considerably.
The focus on making as much money as possible and less on the soul of the beloved character is what led to a hurtful awakening for the actor, who describes himself as “a naive boy” at the time.
Garfield says; “I went from being a naive boy to growing up. How could I ever imagine that it was going to be a pure experience?” There are millions of dollars at stake and that’s what guides the ship. It was a big awakening and it hurt.”
He continues; “Comic-Con in San Diego is full of grown men and women still in touch with that pure thing the character meant to them. [But] you add in market forces and test groups and suddenly the focus is less on the soul of it and more on ensuring we make as much money as possible. And I found that – find that – heartbreaking in all matters of the culture.”
Andrew Garfield is giving no clues as to whether he and/or Tobey Maguire will be appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as has long been rumored. Villains Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) and possibly the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe) are set to make a return, however.
Garfield played the character in The Amazing Spider-Man films from 2012-2014, which were directed by Marc Webb (that name is still incredible), and Emma Stone playing Gwen Stacy. The two films made over $700 million each.
It’s not the first time that Garfield has spoken about his disillusionment with Hollywood after Spider-Man. In a 2016 interview with Amy Adams, as part of Variety’s “Actors on Actors” interview series, he said, “there’s something about being that young in that kind of machinery which I think is really dangerous […] I was still young enough to struggle with the value system, I suppose, of corporate America really, it’s a corporate enterprise mostly.”