Andrew who? That’s the question circling the Internet this evening as Columbia and Sony Pictures confirmed via Twitter that virtual unknown Andrew Garfield will play Peter Parker / Spider-Man in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.
The surprise casting falls in line with the studio’s intention to reboot the Spider-Man franchise as more intimate and character driven than the flashy and expensive Sam Raimi films. Director Marc Webb is said to have a budget of roughly $80 million to work with which works out to be less than half of what Spider-Man 2 and 3 cost to produce.
Garfield, who seems a tad old at 26 to be playing a teenage version of Peter Parker, brings a fresh face to the franchise previously riddled with big names. The British actor recently appeared in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassius and will next appear in Sony’s The Social Network and Never Let Me Go. All eyes are expected to be on The Social Network this fall to see if that performance as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin helped Garfield win the coveted role over fan favorites Anton Yelchin and Logan Lerman.
With Garfield in place, Columbia/Sony is now clear to begin filling in roles around Spider-Man that should include Harry Osborn, Mary Jane Watson, Peter’s aunt and uncle, and at least one villain.
