Andrew Garfield, SpiderMan 101

Creative differences can sometimes mean good things for the rest of us.

When top star Tobey McGuire and director Sam Raimi opted to quit the Spider Man franchise for that reason, fans everywhere wondered who could possibly fill their sticky shoes.

It has now been announced that Mark Webb, director of (500) Days of Summer, is taking over Raimi’s director’s role for a different take on the comic hero, taking the web-spinning costumed maverick back to his beginnings in a 3-D reboot for 2012’s Spider-Man 4.

And on Thursday, Sony Pictures announced that little-known British actor Andrew Garfield will ease into the familiar blue and red bodystocking.

While his isn’t  a name familiar to the audience at large, Garfield is no newcomer to the business, having starred in the British crime drama television series, Red Riding and featured in the movies, Boy A and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

“Though his name may be new to many, those who know this young actor's work understand his extraordinary talents,” Webb said at the launch event in Cancun, Mexico.

“He has a rare combination of intelligence, wit and humanity. Mark my words, you will love Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker.”

But what else do we know of this young actor? Here’s a quick guide:

ACTOR IN THE MAKING

Now 26 years old, Garfield was born on August 20, 1983 in Los Angeles, to a British mother from Essex and an American father from California.

His family moved to England when he was three, and he was raised in Surrey.

Asked by The Guardian if he felt British or American, he replied: "I don't support a football team. I've never had any affinity with any one particular thing.It means I can be in the sun and I don't have to worry about a visa. My dad is American so I was raised with a certain amount of American culture, movies and music, which I like. My mum is from Essex."

It was while he was a student at the City of London Freemen's School in Ashstead that he discovered a passion for acting.

He is also an accomplished gymnast, which should help with those Spider-Man stunts.

After graduating from London's Central School of Speech and Drama in 2004, he worked in the theatre for three years, winning a most promising newcomer award from the London Theatre Critics' Circle.

The awards continued with his TV work, notably, a Bafta gong in 2007 for Boy A, in which he played a young man released from prison after committing a murder when he was a child.

FILM

His first big screen role was Robert Redford’s Afghanistan war movie, Lions For Lambs, which also starred Meryl Streep.

He told The Guardian how he talked Redford round: “I was physically not what he had in mind. I remember saying I know you want a football player, a frat boy, but I'll eat more, I'll work out.”

He says he enjoyed the process, “enjoyed going down the gym with a personal trainer. I've done sport but I've never been interested in the gym. It made me feel different.”

He had small roles in The Other Boleyn Girl, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and the Spike Jonze short I'm Here before being cast as Peter Parker.

He has said his favourite actors are Daniel Day-Lewis and Dustin Hoffman. Working with Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise on Lions For Lambs "was like being in Disneyland, it was acting heaven”.

His next film is Never Let Me Go, an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's haunting novel, which co-stars Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan. It is due for release in September.

LOVE OR MONEY

Garfield is reportedly being paid a piffling $500,000 (Dh1.8m) to make the movie, The Independent reports.

He will receive $1m if he makes a second appearance as Spider-Man, and $2m should he manage a third, reports say.

That’s a far cry from the $20m salary an established star would want.

And yes, he’s taken – sorry girls! Garfield, who reportedly hangs out with best mate Robert Pattinson, is currently in a relationship with 25-year-old actress Shannon Woodward.

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