Andrew Garfield on his Battles with Sony over Spider-Man

More and more little details continue to drip out surrounding Andrew Garfield’s departure from the role of Spider-Man. In spite of the fact that Sony had announced release dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4, it went on to pull the plug on the series after the second movie failed to fully ignite the box office. Garfield was duly dropped as the incumbent webslinger, and with Marvel coming on board too, Tom Holland was duly cast in the role. Holland, of course, debuted his Spider-Man in last year’s Captain America: Civil War.

There had been rumors from 2015 that suggested Garfield had in fact been fired by Sony from Spider-Man, following an alleged dispute with-then Sony chief Kaz Hirai over a special promotional event. The event in question was set to take place in Brazil, where The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was reportedly set to be confirmed, but Garfield ducked out, with sickness the given reason.

The Guardian has quizzed him on just what happened, and whether he effectively sabotaged his own Spider-Man future by not attending the event. Had he had an argument with Sony? “What I’ll proudly say is that I didn’t compromise who I was, I was only ever myself,” he said, not exactly putting out the flames. “And that might have been difficult for some people,” he added, throwing a bit more fuel on them.

He was quizzed too about a dispute over a plan to pluck Garfield’s eyebrows for the Spider-Man role. Did it happen, or was it a metaphor for something else? “Both,” Garfield revealed. “They wanted to thin them out.” He said this didn’t affect him, but that “I learned so much about what feels good and what doesn’t.”

We’ve said it before and will say it again: Garfield’s departure from the Spider-Man role has been handled with a heck of a lot of class by the young actor. This month he’s in both Hacksaw Ridge and Silence. It’d be fair to say that his career is doing rather well. All power to him, too. Spider-Man’s not doing too badly, either, with Spider-Man: Homecoming due in cinemas this summer.

Here’s the full interview at The Guardian. There’s a lot in it about Garfield’s approach to the Spider-Man character, and it’s well worth a read.