It’s a somewhat different take on the Spider-Man legend. The teenage Peter Parker, like most kids his age, is trying to figure out who he is. As a boy, his parents abandoned him, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). Now, as he and his first high-school crush, Gwen, have their struggles with love, secrets and such, Peter discovers a briefcase that belonged to his father, sparking in him a desire to find out what happened to his parents. The search leads him to his father’s former partner, Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), whose alter-ego, The Lizard, will be the impetus for Peter to make the life-altering decision to use his powers to shape a heroic destiny for himself.
But at the heart of The Amazing Spider-Man, it’s about the first relationship between Gwen and Peter that ends up meaning so much. It’s a different sort of dynamic than Peter eventually has with Mary Jane, as Stone herself points out. “I feel like Mary Jane fell in love with Spider-Man. Gwen falls in love with Peter Parker,” she explains.
According to Stone, it was a priority of director Marc Webb’s to make the bond between Gwen and Peter palpable. “We’re operating in a superhero universe, but that relationship has to feel grounded and real. I think the reason that so many fans of the comic books feel so protective of Gwen — or Mary Jane — is that those relationships did feel real and did feel grounded. As actors, it’s nice to have that material to build from — it already feels genuine.”
The Amazing Spider-Man is available starting Nov. 9 on Video On Demand. Check your cable system for availability.
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Photo: © 2012 Columbia Pictures.