Andrew Garfield Reflects on His Amazing Spider-Man Audition

Speaking to Marvel ahead of Titan Books’ release of the Spider-Man No Way Home: The Official Movie Special Book, Andrew Garfield reflected on his original audition, and what he had to do in order to give himself the best chance at securing the role in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man.

“When I got a chance to audition, I thought, “How cool would it be to fulfill some weird version of a childhood dream?” So, of course, I auditioned and didn’t really think much of it in terms of [if] I would get it or not,” said Garfield. “They asked me to do a screen test, and I suddenly thought, “This could happen. This could be a thing that will change my life.” Obviously, that created conflict in the sense of, “Do I want to be that recognizable? Do I want to take on this responsibility?” But then, of course, I did want to! So I decided to screen test and throw my hat in the ring.”

Garfield noted that by the time his screen test rolled around, he was “really nervous,” but ended up imagining that he was just making a short film with some friends instead of the crew, and tricked himself into just being present and having a good time.

“I was really nervous at that point because I was like, “I really would like to do this!” And when you want to do something and may not get to do it, then suddenly everything becomes very intense,” Garfield said. “You have to just take big risks and leave it to the gods. Because I was so nervous and wanted it so much, I figured out a way of doing the screen test. I gave myself an acting adjustment, I suppose, which was: you’re a 15-year-old and you’re making a Spider-Man short film with mates. All the crew are friends. There’s no pressure. You get to make it up as you go along, and it’s about the joy of being this character. I was able to trick my ego to be occupied in a corner. I convinced the part of me that puts pressure on myself that it wasn’t needed and that we were just gonna go and have a laugh. I think that meant I was able to show up fully and be really present and have a good time. I worked hard at it, but then it was just about throwing it away and seeing what happened.”

No Way Home ended its run in the theater with a worldwide gross of over $1.9 billion at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2021, the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, and the highest-grossing Spider-Man film to date.