Marc Webb on directing The Amazing Spider-Man: interview

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The Amazing Spider-Man is opening in a mere matter of days (3 July 2012), and to give you an idea of what to expect from the superhero reboot, here’s our interview with director Marc Webb.

We caught up with the blockbuster newbie at Sony’s press conference in Cancun. Polite, enthusiastic and a passionate Spidey fan, Webb spoke about his leap to the comic-book big leagues, after making a lower-key (but extremely impressive) debut with (500) Days Of Summer .

As well as waxing lyrical about Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and discussing the technology involved in the 3D, Webb also spoke about his own relationship with Peter Parker. This is the third in our series of Amazing Spider-Man interviews, with our chat with Andrew Garfield set to be revealed very soon.

"And then on top of that, the incredible physical demands of the role are pretty extraordinary, and to find all of that is incredibly rare, especially when you start actually looking.

“There was a moment when I was like, ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do.’ And [ Andrew Garfield ] came in late in the game and it was a pretty stunning moment. We screen-tested him, and it was just fascinating to watch him do his work, and then I went back into the edit room and we started cutting through things and I just watched his takes over and over again

“And what was fascinating about Andrew is the lines were only a part of it. He behaves in such a way that he communicates the subtext or the text of a scene in such a profound way. You can watch it without the sound and you know what he’s feeling.

"He does everything with a level of detail and specificity that means you’re just stimulated; there’s always little things that you’re evaluating. That was great. And it’s incredibly rare.

“And then we were casting for Gwen and Gwen is a very smart, very assertive young woman who has a scientific mind. And Emma came in and – boy! – she is so on top of it, and she can rat-tat-tat, and she’s just fun. And there was a lightness to her that was really great.

"And, I remember putting her and Andrew together in a scene and they could just… they were dancing around each other, they were great. It was so much fun to watch these two incredibly intelligent, profoundly talented actors early on in their careers. You know they’re going to go on to have these amazing careers.”

Did they know each other?

“I don’t think they’d ever met.”

So you never thought about having Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as the leads?

“[ Laughs ] Next time! I hope I get to make more movies with Joe and Zooey.”