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IN TRIBUTE See our photo gallery saluting Nora Ephron newsday.com/celebs

| SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2012

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BY FRANK LOVECESpecial to Newsday

With greatbox officecomesgreat re-sponsibility— and

after director Sam Raimi’sthree “Spider-Man” moviesgrossed nearly $2.5 billion,the filmmakers behind thereboot “The Amazing Spider-Man,” opening Tuesday, hada responsibility to keep web-spinning pulp into gold. Andbeyond that, they say, theyfelt a responsibility to theMarvel superhero whose50-year canon attests to hisrelevance and adaptability.As filmmakers also say, thereare countless Spider-Manstories to tell.

So the unavoidable questionbecomes: Then why not tell anew one instead of an origin-story reboot?

“I think there are newstories in this fourth film,”says director Marc Webb,speaking in a hotel room inManhattan last month.“There’s [the story of] PeterParker’s parents, there’s theGwen Stacy saga, and thenthere’s the Lizard,” the super-villain bedeviling Peter’sheroic alter ego. “I think allof those are new stories andnew things to explore.”

They’re also more youthfulthings to explore, which may

be the bigger point. “TheAmazing Spider-Man” —starring Andrew Garfield asPeter, Emma Stone as loveinterest Gwen and Rhys Ifansas scientist Dr. Curt Connors,aka the bestial Lizard —skews younger than the 2002original, which starred TobeyMaguire. While that earlierfilm begins with Peter inhigh school, he soon gradu-ates, moves in with his col-lege roommate and gets ajob. “Amazing” begins andends in high school, with allits attendant concerns.

“ ‘Spider-Man’ has alwaysbeen about a boy who was inhigh school, who was approach-ing manhood,” says Matt Tol-mach, the film’s producer withAvi Arad and the late LauraZiskin. “And the further you getfrom that in your storytelling,the more you lose some of thereal metaphor of what the comicwas always about” — although,to be fair to the comic books’many writers over the years,Peter graduated high school in a1965 story and finished college

in 1978. Spider-Man has been inhis spider-manhood for quite awhile now.

Selling ‘Spider-Man’But a movie or even a movie

trilogy is different from comics— and it’s not as though sometalented writers didn’t try to tell“Spider-Man 4.” Starting in2007, when Raimi was an-nounced to direct the planned2011 release, no less than JamesVanderbilt (“Zodiac”), DavidLindsay-Abaire (the PulitzerPrize-winning play “RabbitHole”) and Gary Ross (“TheHunger Games”) all worked oniterations of the script. Theprocess had even progressed asfar as the producers approach-ing John Malkovich to play thesupervillain. (The producerswon’t confirm which villain,

although Tolmach says, “Youcan probably figure it out if yougo on the Internet,” whereMovieline.com reported it wasthe Vulture).

“We had a meeting in NewYork with Malkovich, and every-body wanted to do it,” saysArad, a 1972 Hofstra graduate.“Because no one knew what waswrong with [the script] yet.”

They eventually figured itout. “I’ll tell you what was notworking,” Arad allows. “At theend of the day was always thesame question: So where isPeter in all of it?”

Without a satisfactory script,plus a post-“Avatar” decree thatthe film be in 3-D, Raimi voicedconcern about meeting therelease date. Finally, Arad said,“We all decided to pay homageto the franchise by saying, ‘Let’snot just milk it’ ” and make asequel for a sequel’s sake. “Thecreative integrity of not makingmovie four cost everyone whomade that decision a fortune.”

Eight days after the studioannounced Raimi’s exit and thatthe next film would be a reboot,

“(500) Days of Summer” direc-tor Webb was aboard. At thisstage, Webb says, “There was ascript that Jamie [Vanderbilt]had written, and I worked withJamie for a while, and then Iworked with [two-time Oscarwinner] Alvin [Sargent] for alittle bit. Jamie was in and outthe entire time.” Steve Kloves,who wrote all but one of the“Harry Potter” films, did a pol-ish, particularly of the teenagecharacters’ scenes.

“The script was incrediblysecretive,” says Hannah Marks(USA’s “Necessary Rough-ness”), who plays a high-schoolclassmate. “I didn’t get to readthe entire thing.”

Casting GarfieldWith Maguire out, Webb

looked at half of young-maleHollywood for the role thateventually went to Garfield. “Ilove Spider-Man, because I feltlike Peter Parker when I was akid,” says the American-born,U.K.-raised, classically trainedactor best known for “TheSocial Network.” Although hewas a gymnast who competednationally at age 12, “I also feltlike I was too skinny to be athlet-ic,” Garfield says. “I was good atsports, but I would get con-cussed all the time playingrugby.” He understood Peter’scombination of vulnerabilityand resilience.

In fact, he felt that firsthandafter getting the role. “I had asplit second where I was sohappy,” he remembers. “Andthen when you start reallyworking on it, you go, ‘This issuch responsibility! I don’tknow if I can handle it. I lovethis so much, and I don’t want todisappoint myself as a fan, Idon’t want to disappoint otherfans.’ And then you don’t sleep,and then you’re losing weight.”

Responsibility. There’s afamiliar word. If that isn’tPeter Parker, what is?

new spider

What scenes didn’t make it into “TheAmazing Spider-Man” that maysomeday turn up on DVD?

One of them, say star Andrew Garfield anddirector Marc Webb, was a long “date” se-quence that followed a shot of Gwen Stacy(Emma Stone) holding onto Spider-Man asthey web-sling through the city at night.

“They had the ‘love nest’ scene,” as Webbdescribes it, “where he took her out, andthere’s a moment where they sort of coalesceas humans, shall we say. I’ll let you interpretthat as you will!”

Why cut it? “It’s this constant choice be-tween pace and feelings,” the director ex-plains. “It was a pacing decision, becausethey’re very lovely in that scene, but weneeded to keep the action going.”

A version of the scene before this, withGwen and Peter talking and sharing a kiss ona rooftop, was one of three scenes used forthe screen tests. Another “was a scene thatwasn’t in the script, which I wish had been,”Garfield says. “It was a scene in a diner be-tween Gwen and Peter, which was awesome.And then there was one more scene — Iforget what it was. But it was a fun day.”

— FRANK LOVECE

NOW ONLINESee a trailer for “The

Amazing Spider-Man”newsday.com/movies

With a freshleading man,the superheroseries spins in adifferent direction

Along comes amovies

New “Spider-Man” Andrew Garfield plays the superhero in his high school years.

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What scenes didn’t make it into “TheAmazing Spider-Man” that maysomeday turn up on DVD?

One of them, say star Andrew Garfield anddirector Marc Webb, was a long “date” se-quence that followed a shot of Gwen Stacy(Emma Stone) holding onto Spider-Man asthey web-sling through the city at night.

“They had the ‘love nest’ scene,” as Webbdescribes it, “where he took her out, andthere’s a moment where they sort of coalesceas humans, shall we say. I’ll let you interpretthat as you will!”

Why cut it? “It’s this constant choice be-tween pace and feelings,” the director ex-plains. “It was a pacing decision, becausethey’re very lovely in that scene, but weneeded to keep the action going.”

A version of the scene before this, withGwen and Peter talking and sharing a kiss ona rooftop, was one of three scenes used forthe screen tests. Another “was a scene thatwasn’t in the script, which I wish had been,”Garfield says. “It was a scene in a diner be-tween Gwen and Peter, which was awesome.And then there was one more scene — Iforget what it was. But it was a fun day.”

— FRANK LOVECE

A romantic moment between Garfield and Emma Stone, who plays Gwen Stacy; some other love scenes didn’t make it to the big screen.

Martin Sheen and Sally Field play Uncle Ben and Aunt May to Garfield; the tale of Peter Parker’s parents is also dealt with.

Where’s the love?

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2012