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Hollywood has the opposite of arachnophobia as it spins another take on Spider-Man origins (POSTMEDIA)

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NEW YORK -- Taking over the role of Spider-Man wasn't something Andrew Garfield just swung into.

The British actor admitted he was "terrified" to play the iconic web-slinging superhero in the new film The Amazing Spider-Man until the most recent big-screen Spidey, Tobey Maguire, sent some kind words his way.

"To my knowledge he hasn't seen the movie, but I got feedback. When I got cast he sent an email to (producer) Matt Tolmach immediately and was very, very generous and made me feel like I could take the torch in confidence.

"He didn't need to do that and it's a test of him as a person. We're all just part of that family, that Spider-Man family," Garfield says during a recent Q&A session with the press at a boutique Soho hotel in Manhattan.

The Amazing Spider-Man, a reboot of the Marvel comic-book series, hits theatres on Tuesday. The film revisits the origin story of how the teenage Parker gains the traits of arachnids after being bitten by a genetically altered spider in a lab.

Landing the role was one thing for the 28-year-old -- best known in North America for his Golden Globe-nominated role as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network -- but getting in crime-fighting shape was an even bigger challenge.

He worked out for six months to build up his muscle and stamina, and hung out with teenagers in Queens to get down the mannerisms of New York youth.

When it was time for the swinging, fighting, jumping, flipping and shooting (webs, that is), he worked with stunt co-ordinator Andy Armstrong, who helped him transform from a lanky young man into a true superhero, paralleling Peter Parker's story in the original comic books and new movie.

"We had an amazing time and he pushed me," a relaxed and beaming Garfield says. "There were things I was scared about, and like any good father, he told me to go beyond what you think you can do, because you might surprise yourself. So for that reason it was kind of a spiritually overwhelming experience to work with him.

"And of course, that combined with that physical sensation that I've wanted to do since I was three years old -- I think pretty much everyone in this room wanted to do since they were three years old -- I got to live that for a second."

The film's audience will get to experience seeing Garfield flying through the air -- in 3-D, of course.

Joining Garfield on his amazing adventure is reported real-life girlfriend Emma Stone as Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacy; Denis Leary as her police-chief father who has a hate on for the vigilante; and veteran actors Martin Sheen and Sally Field as Uncle Ben and Aunt May, who take in the young Parker when his parents flee an unnamed threat.

The person who might know what happened to Parker's parents is Dr. Curt Connors (played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans), a scientist and amputee who is studying cross-species genetics at Oscorp with the hope of regrowing his arm. Unfortunately, the regrowth serum he creates has the horrible side-effect of turning him into a giant lizard with a dream of turning the entire city into his green siblings unless Spider-Man can stop him.

The Amazing Spider-Man comes only 10 years after the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man offered up its own origin story with Maguire in the red and blue suit and Kirsten Dunst playing love interest Mary Jane Watson.

Spider-Man 3 was released in 2007 and plans for a fourth movie were scuttled, leaving it to the conveniently named Marc Webb to take over director duties.

"We've been pretty open about the fact that we tried back in the day to make another instalment of the Raimi/Tobey movies," says co-producer Matt Tolmach. "Sam was the first one to finally say, 'My story has been told. My version, my trilogy has run its course, but someone else should tell the story.'

"I think the power of this character is he belongs to everybody and there's so many different ways to interpret him and he's so relevant for different generations."

The producers and Webb decided to return to the origin story to establish Garfield as the new Spider-Man with a new girlfriend and to explore the mystery of what happened to his parents.

"Spider-Man is a perennial character," Webb says. "It's not like Harry Potter that has a closed canon. There's a 50-year canon of Spider-Man comics; there's a lot of stories to tell from that."

Garfield, a longtime fan of the superhero, admitted being more than a little nervous to pull on the Spandex suit.

"I (was) terrified to take on this role because it means so much to me so I know how much it means to other people," he said. "I dedicated myself to it, really, I did.

"It's a weird thing: we all have that one fictional character at least that we care about so, so much and if ever that opportunity came along for any of us to play it, serve it, to do it justice, when that moment comes you go, 'Oh my God. I'm not allowed to sleep; I'm not allowed to think about anything else. I need to dedicate everything to this person that's given me so much in my life I want to give all of myself to it.'"

Stone, 23, admits she had no sense of Spidey prior to being cast, but after learning about Stacy (who dies in the comics) she was attracted to the character and the whole world of Spider Man.

"He's the only teenage superhero, which is major because a lot of times when people start reading comic books you are a kid or a teenager, so he's the most identifiable instantly," she says. "You can relate to him.

"Not to mention he's bullied, which is huge for a girl or boy. I think everyone has experienced something along those lines."

As for Stacy, Stone says her look was copied from the comics -- the signature headband, thigh-high boots, stylish coats, hair and makeup -- but notes the character was drawn to be more "voluptuous" than Stone is.

"I'm by no means a supermodel or an unattainable-looking person so that element of Gwen was a bit different in some ways, because she was such a beauty queen in the comic books and I'm more of a (girl) next door," she says.

Spider-Man's cold-blooded enemy, the Lizard, was created through a combination of computerized effects and good-old fashioned makeup for the transitional shots when Dr. Connors was morphing into the Lizard and vice-versa.

Ifans sat in the makeup chair for up to eight hours at a time while four makeup artists applied silicone pieces and painted individual scales, he recalls.

"After seven hours in a chair with not more than enough cigarettes, I was kind of in the right mental state to play a man about to transform into a nine-foot lizard with a dangerous tail," he says.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

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A SNAPSHOT of some key dates in the history of Spider-Man. The comic book titles are all Vol. 1 unless otherwise indicated.

Aug. 1962 -- Spider-Man makes his first comic book appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15. Stan Lee and Steve Ditko are generally regarded as the creators, while artist Jack Kirby did the cover art.

March, 1963 -- The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 is published.

Sept. 9, 1967 -- The animated series Spider-Man begins its three year run. It was the first animated adaptation of the comic and its theme song, "Spider-Man, Spider Man, does whatever a spider can..." became a standard.

March 1972 -- Spider-Man gets a series of partners in the comic Marvel Team-Up, which ran until 1985.

June and June 1973 -- Gwen Stacy dies in a story arc in the Amazing Spider-Man Nos. 121 and 122. Historians generally label her death as the end of the Silver Age of Comic Books.

December 1976 -- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man comic makes its debut. It runs until 1998.

Jan. 3, 1977 -- The Amazing Spider-Man daily newspaper comic strip debuts.

Sept. 14, 1977 -- The live action made-for-TV film The Amazing Spider-Man airs, serving as the pilot for a 13-episode series.

1980 -- Gottlieb releases The Amazing Spider-Man pinball game.

May 1984 -- The first appearance of Spider-Man's black costume is revealed concurrently in The Amazing Spider-Man No. 252 and Marvel Team-Up No. 141.

April 1985 -- Web of Spider-Man No. 1 comic is published. It runs for a decade.

1987 -- Peter Parker marries Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual No. 21.

August 1990 -- The Todd McFarlane vehicle Spider-Man begins. He would stay on with the comic until No. 16. The series was retitled Peter Parker: Spider-Man with issue No. 75 and end at No. 98 in December 1998.

Jan. 15, 1996 -- BBC Radio begins airing a 50 episode Spider-Man radio series.

May 28, 1999 -- The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man 3D ride opens at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla.

May 3, 2002 -- The Sam Raimi film Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire, opens.

June 14, 2011 -- The troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark officially opens.

April 1, 2012 -- The latest animated cartoon series, Ultimate Spider-Man, begins airing on Disney XD in the United States.

July 3, 2012 -- The Marc Webb-directed The Amazing Spider-Man opens.

-- Compiled by Rob Williams

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 1, 2012 G1