Many will agree that there’s one thing about The Amazing Spider-Man series that’s been better than any other iteration of the wallcrawler: its leading couple. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy is both explosive and infectious. Audiences wasted no time falling in love with the duo—which made her tragic death hurt even more.
The iconic moment happened towards the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 when Peter tries to save Gwen from falling during his struggle with Harry Osborn. Sadly, he webs her a second too late, and her neck snaps into the hard ground below—killing her instantly.
This defining moment for the character made for one of the best sequences of the MCU's Spider-Man: No Way Home, where Garfield’s Peter ends up saving Zendaya’s MJ from meeting the same fate, and in a similar manner, no less. The moment, perfectly played by both actors, was a tearjerker, to say the least.
Now, some new quotes from various Sony executives have provided fans with a little more detail about the atmosphere on set the day they filmed the fateful scene.
Filming the Death of Gwen Stacy
The Direct received an early copy of Sean O’Connell's new book, With Great Power, which highlights Spider-Man's ever-popular role on the big screen. Within it, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 VFX Supervisor Jerome Chen spoke about how the film's star, Andrew Garfield, went about getting into the dark mind space necessary for the death of Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy.
Chen noted that "Andrew and Emma deliberately didn't see each other for a week," and he "[remember[s] Andrew coming in and just crying uncontrollably" for hours on end:
“I remember when they were filming that scene, Andrew and Emma deliberately didn’t see each other for a week. Andrew [Garfield] said, ‘I don’t want to see you! When you come into that scene, you have to pretend like you are dead to me.’ It was very quiet. The sets were almost always very quiet. Marc [Webb] likes to work very focused. So it was very quiet, a totally closed set. And I just remember Andrew coming in and just crying uncontrollably. It was hours of that. That was grueling but powerful.”
While talking about the big moment back in 2014, Stone recalled that "[she] couldn't open [her] eyes to see Andrew [Garfield]" because of how "heartbreaking" it was:
"I couldn't open my eyes to see Andrew [Garfield]... I could feel him, but to see his face, it's so heartbreaking."
In another past interview, with Entertainment Weekly, Marc Webb, the film's director, revealed that the death of Gwen Stacy in the comics "stayed with [him] in a profound way:"
"It stayed with me in a profound way. I was anxious and curious to explore it on the screen."
Webb elaborated on how if it was anything but devastating, it "would be undermining the truth of it."
"Emma [Stone] is beloved, and that relationship is the heart of [the Amazing Spider-Man] movies. But that's also why we couldn't shy away from that. It has to have impact. It has to shock you. It has to be devastating. Anything else would be undermining the truth of it."
Spider-Man fans can now purchase With Great Power, available online.
More Emma Stone to Come?
It's not surprising to learn that Garfield felt the need to ignore his co-star for a whole week. After all, the two were dating up until 2015, so they were probably seeing each other fairly often, especially while The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was in production.
There's no denying that Garfield's process worked because his performance in those devastating moments broke the hearts of fans across the world. It still remains one of the strongest sequences in either Amazing movie.
With all of the Multiverse shenanigans in the world of superhero blockbusters these days, one cannot help but ask: could Emma Stone return as Gwen Stacy?
After all, Into the Spider-Verse showcased the perfect excuse to bring her back. All Sony needs to do is tell the story of an alternate universe’s Gwen Stacy, one who becomes Spider-Woman, as seen in the hit animated movie. This version of the character can even parallel Garfield’s Peter’s grief, as she lost her Peter Parker in a similar circumstance.
The emotional beats that would present themselves in these interactions are almost too good not to take advantage of. Also, who doesn’t want to see Emma Stone become a Spider-Person?
Before tackling Stone’s return, however, Sony should probably figure out what Andrew Garfield’s future might look like. After Spider-Man: No Way Home, fans were practically begging for him to return somehow, whether that be another MCU bit, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, or a face-off against Tom Hardy in Venom 3.
