Ladies and gentlemen, your new Spider-man is…
Andrew Garfield.
It doesn’t get more official than an announcement from SonyPictures.
That would be Andrew Garfield of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The Social Network and Never Let Me Go.
Wow, Mr. Garfield. Talk about going from zero to sixty in one year! Sure, that’s a hyperbole, so I’m sure someone will pick on it. All I mean is this: It’s going to take a very short time for folks to go from “Andrew who?” to “ANDREW GARFIELD, heck yeah!”
Now I need to watch Parnassus again.
Two questions for you:
- What’s your all-time favorite actor/superhero casting match?
- And what, if anything, do you hope Garfield will bring to the character of Peter Parker/Spider-man that Tobey Maguire didn’t?
I can’t decide what i like better, when unlikely actors are chosen such as Michael Keaton as Batman or when actors who seem destined to play the roles emerge in the case of Iron Man.
What I hope Garfield brings is a sense of originality. The spider-man movies are still freshly stained on our memories, whatever they come up with is going to have to bring it’s own mark that will hopefully not make us dwell too much on the previous film but also get out the fixated expectations that the new wave of super-hero blockbusters seems to have brought.
1) The first person that came to mind was Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark a close second.
2) What the first commenter said. I still find it hard to believe that they’re rebooting the Spider-Man franchise so soon after Raimi’s trilogy.
1. Never having been a comics reader, I’ve got favorite superhero performances, but I judge them on their own terms rather than in relation to the source characters. But I do think that Tom Welling was a terrific high-school aged Clark Kent in Smallville’s early years at least: earnest, square and a little goofy, but also good-humored, handsome and built like a Superman.
2. It’d be nice to see Garfield’s Parker bring a bit of playfulness to the role. Maguire had playful moments, but not too many.
1) RDJ as Tony Stark is solid gold. I used to read the Iron Man comics and I actually preferred his version of the character to the source material. Charm , wit, and spontaneity are things I find sadly lacking from most on-screen heroes.
2) I’ve only seen Garfield in the recent Parnassus, but I liked that movie and I liked his performance. He had a bit of a smart-alack edge. I want more humor. I think he can make Peter dorky AND cool, so it’d be nice to see those ups and downs, rather than the sad little everyman who is always being held down. Spiderman is cocky at times, and he needs that edge so that when he gets knocked down to size, it means something.
I like this casting.
1.personally I found Hugh Jackman amazing as Wolverine, too bad that X3 as well as his origin story stained his character. They( film writer’s) have misunderstood the character by only a small degree of deviation but it has slowly added up to the watering down of the character.
Tony Stark is probably my all time favorite,Robert Downey Jr. brings out the alcholic, reckless, women chasing billionare. An interesting and complex character. My favorite!
2)I kinda felt Tobey Maguire was a mediocre casting choice. However I felt Spider-Man was tame with his jokes. I mean in the cartoon he’s walking around on his ceiling asking himself why he can’t just go to parties like everyone else. His natural defense mechanism and way he cuts loose as Spider-man that borders on the comedic energy that Stark achieves when he’s not wearing the ironman suit.
I hope that following the source material , Ultimate pider-man, written by a genius comic like Brian Michael Bendis, will help produce a quality Spider-man movie.
Bruce Willis in Unbreakable.
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man is absolutely the only answer I can have to this question. There is literally no one else who could’ve played that role as well as he did.
I guess I am showing my age with this one but Christopher Reeve as Superman has always been my favorite super hero casting choice (despite some truly embarrassing sequels).
1.) Darn it, now I also have to add “Parnassus” to my viewing list! I’m a bit confused as to whether audiences will go for a reboot this close to the original trilogy–the first two are pretty beloved and only the third one faltered (I still think Sony ruined that movie–from all I heard, they kind of broke Raimi’s passion for the material.) It’s not like Ang Lee’s “Hulk,” wehre most people left hating it (although it’s not as terrible as they say, but the reboot was better). I think people are going to have the reaction “Didn’t we just see this? Why is he young again?”
2.) The RDJ as Tony Stark comments are spot on. A great match of actor to character. Surprised no one has mentioned Christopher Reeve as Superman…even when the films got mediocre and then terrible, he was STILL the best things about them. And those first two Superman movies are iconic. Also, I’d make an argument for Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman…he’s the first actor to actually make me care as much about Bruce Wayne as I do the Dark Knight.
2. An edge. I felt like if I checked under Maguire’s Spiderman’s armpits, I would only see skin. As Ryan says in his previous comment, the guy is supposed to be cocky at times, and if he is just a dork 100% of the time, no beating he takes really feels like it has any weight.
1. How about Bruce Willis in “Unbreakable”? If that’s too out-of-the-box, then I liked Christopher Reeve as Superman. And I know the TV show was campy, but Adam West’s take on Batman was pretty darn funny.
2. I haven’t seen anything Andrew Garfield has been in, so I have no comment. We’ll just see how he does.
I like Garfield a lot in Boy A, which was a movie almost no one saw, and I’m looking forward to him in Never Let Me Go. With this reboot, though, I’m in the “why do we need this?” camp.
I’ve never thought Tobey Maguire was super hero material (even though I liked the first two Spider Man movies); to me, it was kind of like casting Matthew Broderick as an action hero in Godzilla.
Chris Bale as Batman. It just came WAY out of left field for me but I instantly knew where Nolan was going &, being a life-long Batman fanboy, loved it.
What I’m hoping for is what Corey’s hoping for: jokes. I wanna hear the Spidey groaners, the cheesey one liners. Go all Stan Lee & smack me about the face with them! Not that I want that to define the film but . . . I just want to see more of what I love about Spidey, other than his angst & the “great power/great responsibility” aspects. I want the heart. In the right hands, Spider-Man has the most heart of almost any superhero around. He almost cares too much, sometimes. He’s a geek, dork, goof, etc, but he’s also super smart, way into science, & is so big hearted & selfless. If he were a dog, he’d be a yellow lab! Spidey’s a big-hearted, geeky, goof of a guy who can also kick some serious booty! That’s what I wanna see.
More like how he was presented in the recently canceled (curse you Disney!) Spectacular Spider-Man series. Check that out if you haven’t!
What I’ve been reading over the last few months is Sony wants to go more of the Ultimate Spidey route; younger lead, still in high school, etc. But Garfield’s 27 so I’m not thinking that’s where they’re going any more. Could be interesting.
I thought he was fantastic in Boy A. The new Spiderman depends on the script and direction anyway, so as long as the actors can act, I’m not worried.
I had to post this, hopefully Jeff won’t mind a funny discussion between Peter and Mary Jane plucked from Spider-man Ultimate
Peter: No one does this crap to Captain America – or Iron man – just me!!
Every time!!
Mary Jane: Maybe it’s the costume.
Peter: What?
Mary Jane: You asked me for reasons.
Peter: You don’t like the costume?
Mary Jane: Never mind…
Peter: Have you seen Daredevil’s costume? He looks like a complete tool
and nobody blames nuclear sabotage on him.
My favorite superhero-actor was probably Robert Downey Jr., but Wolverine was really good too (especially with that hair). My least favorite was Toby as Spidey… bad, baddddd choice.