What follows is an excerpt from that interview. Follow the link for the full conversation.
Quint:
I guess the big question, the elephant in the room, is how you develop your own interpretation of Peter Parker as a character and of Spider-Man as a character. I mean, you not only have the established movie universe, but decades of different iterations of the character in comic book form.
Andrew Garfield:
I know. And people are still crazy about it.
Quint:
And to complicate it a lot of people are into the books today because of the Spider-Man movies and Tobey Maguire’s performance.
Andrew Garfield:
Yeah, I know. It rekindled my love for it. I was reminded about how much the comics and the cartoon series meant to me as a kid when I saw the film. When I saw that first movie, I thought “God! That symbol has meant so much to me for all my life, since I was two years old and I had my first Halloween.” Stepping into this is a number of things, you know? It’s a dream come true, for sure. I feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity. I wanted to make sure I had as much fun as possible because what I’ve found is that Peter Parker doesn’t get to have that much fun. He’s got a lot to do, he’s got a lot of stuff to clean up.
Quint:
Especially, I’d imagine, in the first movie of a new series of Spider-Man films.
Andrew Garfield:
He’s going through adolescence, which is a full time job, as we all know and have been through; that breaks you down and makes you sometimes question existence. And on top of that he gets given these powers, which on the surface to us all just seem like this ability to be stronger than you’ve always been, to be able to swing through the streets of New York City and get to experience the sensation of flight, which we’ve all dreamed about.
Quint:
Something I love in the books that wasn’t in the Raimi movies too much… the wise-cracking Spider-Man. When he’s Peter Parker he has the weight of real life on his shoulders, but he has a certain freedom as Spider-Man…
Andrew Garfield:
Sure, in a way. But if I could disagree with that as well… the mask weighs more than I thought it would… for me, personally.
Quint:
Sure, it represents the responsibility that comes with his powers…
Andrew Garfield:
That’s exactly right and you don’t actually know how heavy that is until it’s actually upon you. My personal journey with it, as Andrew, has kind of syncopated with Peter and his journey in this movie. I got very excited, of course, when I knew I was going to be playing the role and I was just living in a pure fantasy for three months going, “I get to do this and I get to do that and I get to do all my stunts and I get to wear the [frick]ing costume and I get to hang out with kids in Queens and I get to research all that and I get to be a kid again… I get to fulfill a fantasy!”