Andrew Garfield Seen With Emma Stone for the First Time in a Month as He Reveals Spider-Man Felt Like "Prison"

Actor opens up about the pressure to "please everyone" with the superhero movie

By Zach Johnson Sep 01, 2015 1:02 PMTags
Andrew Garfield, Emma StonePacificCoastNews

Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are going strong.

The private pair were photographed on a lunch date in L.A. Sunday, marking the second time they had been seen together all summer. Garfield, 32, and Stone, 26, met on the set of Sony Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man, in which they played love interests Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey, respectively. The 2012 film earned $757.9 million on a reported $230 million budget. Capitalizing on its success, a sequel, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was released in 2014 and earned $709 million on a reported $255 million budget. Though it was the eighth highest-grossing film of the year, it was the lowest-grossing film of the five-film franchise.

While promoting the drama movie 99 Homes, in theaters Sept. 25, Garfield talked about the personal dilemmas he faced while shooting the superhero series.

"The pressure to get it right, to please everyone… it's not going to happen...You end up pleasing no one, or everyone just a little bit," he recently told Indiewire's The Playlist of playing the Marvel Comics character. "Like, 'Eh, that was good.' [The films are] mass-marketed, like 'We want 50-year-old white men to love it, gay teenagers to love it, bigot homophobes in Middle America to love it, 11-year-old girls to love it.' That's canning Coke. So, that aspect of it was a bummer. Especially for the group of us trying to infuse it with soul, trying to make it unique, something that was worth the price of entry. It was about authenticity, flavor, and truth, but at the same time, I understand people want to make a lot of money, and they're going to spend a lot of money so the playpen can be as big as it was. I can't live that way; it sounds like a prison, to be honest, living within those expectations."

In spite of what he experienced during his stint as Spider-Man (a role first made famous by Tobey Maguire), Garfield wouldn't rule out starring in another blockbuster franchise. "I'm not going to shy away from something that a lot of people are going to see," the actor explained. "F--k it. Bring it on. Life's short."

Sony Pictures is not planning to move forward with a third Spider-Man film with Garfield in the lead. Instead, Tom Holland will play a teenage version of the web slinger in future Marvel Studios films. "He's just a brilliant actor," Garfield recently told E! News of passing the torch on to the 19-year-old British star. "I can't wait to watch. I just can't wait to be a fan again and just watch and enjoy myself watching."

Watch: Andrew Garfield Says Goodbye to "Spider-Man" Role