Why did Andrew Garfield lose Spider-Man job?

Regardless of how you feel about the two Amazing Spider-Man films I feel that you have to concede that Andrew Garfield did a pretty good job as Peter Parker/Spider-Man but then rumours circulated that he was going to be dropped as Spider-Man and finally Marvel and Sony made the deal and a new Spider-Man was imminent.

Now, you’d probably be forgiven for thinking that Amazing Spider-Man’s Garfield was dropped because Marvel wanted to reboot the Spider-Man franchise (again) and needed a younger, as we know now, actor to fill Spidey’s suit for their film.

Andrew decides he doesn’t want to attend. He has a rather scruffy beard and he just wants to be left alone

However lots of people are suggesting that had Sony not made the deal with Marvel that Garfield’s days as Spider-Man would’ve been numbered, if not over, anyway. And its simply because Garfield disrespected his boss, he annoyed the man in charge, Sony’s chief Kaz Hirai.

Now, a lot of you will be thinking that this isn’t news as reports of Garfield’s snubbing of Hirai were widespread before Sony and Marvel signed on the dotted line over Spider-Man. However those leaked emails that have surfaced online following the Sony hacking have reared their ugly head again, revealing that Hirai had a speech planned until Garfield no-showed and that several Sony folks were worried about it.

First of all here’s the original speech Hirai was planning.

"Andrew is an actor who has graced the screen in roles in several important Sony Pictures Entertainment films, including The Social Network, in which he played Mark Zuckerberg’s onetime friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin. The Social Network, to my mind, is the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century, a film that social historians hundreds of years from now will point to as one of the most emblematic of our era.[slide showing poster of The Social Network and The Amazing Spider-Man 2] Another historic movie starring Andrew is The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which continues to weave movie magic in hearts and minds around the world. Together those two films have taken in more than $XXX million at the global box office.I’m proud to say that Andrew will be returning as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which will be released in May, 2016."

That speech was swiftly changed when Garfield didn’t attend. However perhaps more interesting is the series of emails sent back and forth between Sony colleagues who were all concerned about the situation.

"From: Rupert FowlerTo: Clark, Nigel; Enriquez, Vianne; Knight, PrueCc: Aoki, Keiko; Bernard, Stevan; van der Werff, Susan; Blake, JeffSent: Sat Jul 12 16:13:35 2014Subject: RE: URGENT URGENT: World CupHi Nigel,He had been feeling under the weather all day and exhausted from coming off the plane early this morning so I gave as much notice as I could. Not ideal though I understand, hope it didn’t have too great an impact on things.Rupert_____From: Clark, NigelSent: 12 July 2014 19:56To: Rupert Fowler; Enriquez, Vianne; Knight, PrueCc: Aoki, Keiko; Bernard, Stevan; van der Werff, Susan; Blake, JeffSubject: Re: URGENT URGENT: World CupRupert,I hear that Andrew decided at the last minute to skip the Sony event and dinner. Is that true? It puts us in an embarrassing situation with Kaz Hirai.NigelThat is extremely embarrassing….But I will tell Kaz and change the seating and his speech!!Thanks for letting me know.KayFrom: Bernard, StevanSent: Sunday, July 13, 2014 4:49 AMTo: Clark, NigelCc: Aoki, KeikoSubject: AG Problem – PLEASE READImportance: HighNigel/Kay,Here we are about one hour away from our Gala event and Andrew decides he doesn’t want to attend. He has a rather scruffy beard and he just wants to be left alone"

To be honest we’ll never know just how much of an impact this moment had on Andrew Garfield’s time as Spider-Man, or even Amazing Spider-Man 3 which going to be announced for 2016 at the time but then wasn’t. Perhaps this event had something to do with that film being pushed back as well?

Next: Doctor Strange has already been in a Spider-Man film

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