Spider-Man: No Way Home comes into 2022 having already become the biggest movie event in years with Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire getting plenty of attention for their web-slinger team-up. Now, the three live-action Peter Parkers are a part of the most financially successful Spider-Man solo movie in history and one of the best-reviewed comic book movies ever made.
The lead-up to No Way Home's long-awaited release was filled with news and announcements from seemingly endless sources, with new stars confirming, teasing, and denying their inclusion in the film at every turn. After villains like Alfred Molina's Doc Ock and Jamie Foxx's Electro were set for their returns about a year before No Way Home's debut, much of the attention turned to Garfield and Maguire with their comebacks heavily rumored.
Like a true professional, Garfield never budged once, finding new and unique ways to avoid confirming that his Amazing Spider-Man was in the movie despite being forced to speak on the topic on countless occasions. Now that he can finally talk about the experience freely with no more secrets to keep, he took some time to look back on the experience of being an expert liar.
Garfield Reflects on Lying About No Way Home
Speaking with The Wrap, The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield reminisced on how he felt having to lie to the public about his role in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Although he admitted that it was "stressful," Garfield expressed how much he enjoyed the experience as well:
“It was stressful, I'm not gonna lie. It was rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable.”
Comparing it to a party game called "Werewolf," where some members of a group have to hide their identity as werewolves from the rest of their party, Garfield called it "very fun" to play a version of that game with everybody asking about No Way Home:
“It was like this massive game of Werewolf that I was playing with journalists and with people guessing, and it was very fun... There were moments where I was like, ‘God, I hate lying.' I don't like to lie and I'm not a good liar, but I kept framing it as a game. And I kept imagining myself purely as a fan of that character, which is not hard to do. I placed myself in that position of, Well, what would I want to know? Would I want to be toyed with? Would I want to be lied to? Would I want to be kept on my toes guessing? Would I want to discover it when I went to the theater? Would I want to be guessing, guessing, guessing?”
Garfield's reasoning was simple: If he were in fans' shoes, he himself would want the surprise kept under lock and key until the movie revealed it in theaters:
“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 theater when my instinct was proven right. That's what I would want.”
Once again comparing the experience to "Werewolf," Garfield was aware of how stressful it was going to be to hide the movie's secrets, but he called it "thrilling" getting the chance to convince fans of what was the truth and what was a lie:
“Like anyone who's played the game Werewolf knows, if you are the werewolf your heart kind of sinks because you know you have a stressful couple of hours ahead of you, You're gonna have to lie to your friends' faces and try to convince them that you are not the bad guy in the game. But it was thrilling, actually.”
Garfield's Lying Paid Off for No Way Home
From the first week of May 2021 until right before Spider-Man: No Way Home premiered, Andrew Garfield adamantly claimed that his Spider-Man was not involved in any way with the MCU threequel. That denial ranged from phrases like "we'll see" to a flat-out "I'm done," but week after week, Garfield remained vigilant in keeping the MCU's secrets from his end.
Looking back on the huge number of stars that were in this movie, it was an absolute shot in the dark in terms of picking out who would remain quiet on the matter and who wouldn't be able to keep their mouths shut. And now that the movie is nearing a full month in theaters, actors like Garfield have free reign to talk about everything that came to the big screen after so much anticipation.
Frankly, Garfield deserves a world of credit for never breaking on the matter, especially considering that No Way Home was the topic of all topics in the movie community for such a long time.
Now, the star is sharing all of the fun details about his experience on set, which includes improvising the "I love you guys" line from the final battle, sneaking into a screening with Tobey Maguire, and looking back on the beauty of his moment with Zendaya's MJ. Now, the master deceiver can fully enjoy this movie with the fandom as it continues leaving its massive imprint on comic book movie history.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters worldwide.
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