SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Writers Discuss Working With Two of the Returning Actors and Their Input on Their Characters
The creators of Spider-Man: No Way Home did a fantastic job of bringing us an incredible story with a lot of depth, action, humor, heartache, nostalgia, and heart. The movie is breaking records, and making fans excited to get back to the theatre. The film’s co-writers, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about two of the stars of the movie. But if you haven’t seen the movie yet, I suggest you don’t keep reading.
I hope you all got to see No Way Home in a theater filled with fans, because the moments that Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield appeared on the screen were filled with screaming, cheering, clapping, and even some tears in the theater I saw the movie in. It was so exciting!
As far as the process went for bringing these characters to the screen, McKenna and Sommers talked about their characters with THR, saying:
“They had thoughts, and it was really interesting and helpful to see their thoughts. No one knows the character as well as — or gives as much thought to the character — as someone who has to then embody it and sell it. … It definitely shaped what we did.”
The report said Maguire, who played Spider-Man in three films from 2002-07, wanted to keep things quite minimal when it came to revelations about his character post-Spider-Man 3. Garfield, who starred in two Amazing Spider-Man films from 2012-14, embraced exploring the dark path his Peter Parker went down after the death of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) in Amazing Spider-Man 2. McKenna explained:
"The last time you saw Andrew Garfield, it was the death of Gwen, and that must have sent him down a dark spiral, maybe he never got out of. We don't know, because there wasn't a third movie that we saw. Where did he go? Maybe a really dark place. We wanted to be true to the characters in those movies. Really having conversations about specifying where they are, without giving away too much. Not coming in, spilling all the beans. 'Tobey's Peter is running Peter Parker Industries!' You just wanted to have little hints of that without it being all this exposition as fan service."
"Tobey wanted to be very minimal about how much you know. Very, very minimal. Andrew really loved the idea of he's still tortured over what happened in Amazing Spider-Man 2 and where that left him, and how they could bring that to Tom. ‘We can empathize with you. We do know what you are going through. If anyone in the world knows what you're going through, it's us.’ But also, ‘We can be beacons.’ Tobey especially has come through that darkness. We thought it was cool that Andrew's Peter was still in the midst of that darkness. They weren't just here to go, ‘Two awesome Jedi knight heroes who show up and are going to help you take down the bad guys.’ They are going through their own things. We were trying to write up to the characters that they did such a great job of creating and really being true to those characters and those stories and those worlds so that it didn't feel like we were doing curtain call, fan-service."
Garfield also latched on to the notion that his version of Peter was the middle brother. McKenna said:
“They had great ideas that really elevated everything we were going for and added layers and an arc and we really actually started honing into the idea that these two guys were really helping Tom’s Peter on his journey to becoming who he ends up becoming. There’s a crucial, moral moment that they help him get through in the climax of the movie. So much of that was brought by Tobey and Andrew’s ideas and shaping of what they thought their characters could bring to this story.”
The actors and writers did such a great job of bringing these characters back to the screen and being true to their personalities and stories, as well as blending them into this world where they could empathize with this other version of themselves. It was beautifully done, and it made the movie so much fun to watch, while hitting you right in the feels.
What was your favorite moment with the returning Peter Parkers? Mine was when Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker was able to save MJ from falling. His reaction made me tear up, and it was such a cathartic moment for his character and his fans.