rHodas: 'Spider-Man' Andrew Garfield Talks 'Huge Responsibility' Of His Role

Sunday, February 12, 2012

'Spider-Man' Andrew Garfield Talks 'Huge Responsibility' Of His Role

The lifelong Spidey fan admits that 'no actor could ever live up to' the role of Peter Parker.
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Andrew Garfield
Photo: MTV News

The adage "with great power, comes great responsibility" always kept Spider-Man in check, but you may not have known that the same applies for the actor playing the web-slinger in "The Amazing Spider-Man."

Before a recent preview event in New York City, Andrew Garfield shared his excitement and anxieties about playing the iconic superhero with MTV News' Josh Horowitz.

Though he later told the crowd of fans that he took the role because he's "not an idiot," Garfield admitted to a constant state of nervousness. "It's always the same. It's always at a 10 inside," he said. "It's just a question of whether you acknowledge it, or try to ignore it, or try to suppress it, or pretend that it's not there, or act like you don't care."

The pressure doesn't simply come from fans or the history of the character, but also the people who have worked to bring Spidey to life. "It's a huge responsibility for me to be in that suit and to take on the mantle from a fantastic actor previously and from fantastic artists and writers and ultimately Stan Lee," Garfield said. "That's where it came from."

At the same time, everything that Spider-Man means to Garfield and all the other fans has made playing the character both easier and more difficult. "I feel lucky and also unlucky that I'm a fan first. I'm a Spider-Man fan, that's who I am at my core," Garfield explained. "I feel lucky in the sense that I feel I know him. I know Peter Parker because I grew up with him, but I feel unlucky in the sense that I know how disappointed I am that I'm playing him."

That disappointment doesn't stem from self-deprecation, the actor clarified. But there is a sense of inevitable failure built into taking a role like Spider-Man. "No actor could ever live up to the character for me," he said. "And that's weird for me to say that because I'm the actor playing him in this particular incarnation. I can't wait for another actor to take it over, so that I can judge."

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