If you’re here already, then there’s probably no need to toss out the spoiler alert for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Andrew Garfield reprised his role as Spider-Man in No Way Home, confirming the worst-kept secret surrounding the latest entry in the franchise. Garfield tried his best to deny any involvement with the highly-anticipated film during several promotional appearances for his other projects, The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Tick, Tick...BOOM!
”It was stressful, I’m not gonna lie,” Garfield told The Wrap about having to publicly dodge the rumors. “It was rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable.” The 38-year-old actor compared the “very fun” ordeal to a game called Werewolf, in which players must hide the fact that they’re a werewolf to their friends. Aside from seeing each interview as a game of Werewolf, Garfield was motivated to preserve the element of surprise because the payoff would then be well worth it.
“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,” he explained. “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.’”
In a September interview with Variety, Garfield appeared to have grown frustrated with the constant questioning surrounding his rumored role in the MCU film. “But it’s important for me to say on the record that this is not something I’m aware I am involved in,” he said at the time. “But I know I’m not going to be able to say anything that will convince anyone that I don’t know what’s happening. No matter what I say, I’m fucked.”
Even after photos leaked of Garfield on the No Way Home set, he presented a calm demeanor, telling Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that the clips were likely digitally altered. With the truth finally out, Garfield admits that he had grown frustrated with the leaks.
“I worked so hard to keep it secret that I was in Atlanta shooting,” he said. “All these leaks were happening, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, guys, what the hell is going on? I’m working so hard here to stay secret, and then here’s an image of me with Tobey!’ And they’re like, ‘No, no, we’re gonna keep it quiet.’ ‘OK, I’ll keep denying it.’”
Garfield eventually got to see the fruits of his labor when he and his co-star and fellow Spider-Man alum Tobey Maguire went incognito into a screening to see the audience’s response. “I snuck into a theater on opening night and just watched with my baseball cap on and my mask. In fact, I was also with Tobey, me and Tobey snuck into a theater together and no one knew we were there,” he toldEntertainment Tonight recently. “It was just a really beautiful thing to share together.”
