Spider-Man is famously very good at keeping secrets, with only a select few knowing his true identity. It would seem Andrew Garfield has borrowed those skills from his comic book counterpart, as he impressively dodged questions from the press throughout the last year regarding his rumoured appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Despite leaked images and plenty of conjecture as to his involvement in the third film of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, Garfield remained determined to quash the speculation whenever he was quizzed by journalists and fans alike. Indeed, an ongoing theme of Garfield’s press tour for the Netflix musical Tick Tick…Boom was the persistence of interviewers in trying to prise key information from the star.
It has to be said, Andrew Garfield did a pretty good job, too. Many fans were still unsure as to whether he would actually appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and his subsequent arrival in the film sparked wild reactions from delighted audiences. Garfield was so good at keeping this huge secret, in fact, that even his ex-girlfriend and The Amazing Spider-Man co-star, Emma Stone couldn’t get him to crack under pressure.
Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Garfield revealed to host Josh Horowitz that Stone would repeatedly interrogate him via text message about the rumours. Garfield describes the playful exchanges: “Emma kept on texting me, and she was like, ‘Are you in this new Spider-Man film?’ And, I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ I kept it going, even with her.”
Just as he did with the press and fans alike, Garfield clearly maintained his stance and pleaded ignorance until the film finally released. He went on to say: “Then, she saw it, and she was like, ‘You’re a jerk.'” Luckily, both parties saw the funny side of the secrets and remain good friends, with Garfield describing the whole thing as “hilarious.”
Ultimately, Garfield explains that lying about his return as Peter Parker was the right thing to do: “I kept imagining myself purely as a fan of that character. I would want the actor to do an incredibly good job at convincing me he wasn’t in it. And then I would want to lose my mind in the theatre when proven right.”
There’s still time to catch Andrew Garfield in action in Spider-Man: No Way Home, in cinemas now, as the film approaches the end of its successful theatrical run.