Andrew Garfield is the new Peter Parker. The “Red Riding” star has won the lead role in Sony’s reboot of its “Spider-Man” franchise being directed by Marc Webb. The new iteration, which will turn from the Sam Raimi-directed trilogy that starred Tobey Maguire, begins production in December. James Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay.
As with the previous three films, Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce.
“Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor’s work understand his extraordinary talents,” Webb said of Garfield. “He has a rare combination of intelligence, Garfield was among a small crop of actors that THR spotlighted a month ago as the final candidates. The studio finally revealed its choice at an event in Cancun, Mexico, for international journalists attending a media tour promoting films from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Garfield was caught somewhat by surprise himself. The actor was in Cancun as part of the studio’s event, as an actor in “Social Network,” when he was called into a suite with Pascal just before the news conference and told that he was going to be doing some web-slinging.
The new “Spider-Man” film places Parker back in high school, where he will struggle with the knowledge that his uncle died despite his power to stop it. Maguire, Raimi and the studio made the decision at the beginning of the year to restart the story in a scaled-back fashion.