Andrew Garfield is very much the actor of the moment but nothing he's done in his burgeoning career so far has generated as much fanboy fervour as his selection for Spider-Man 4, a project that kicks off in a matter of months with Marc Webb at the helm and a host of origin story surprises in store.
At Colorado's Telluride festival to promote Mark Romanek's tender rites-of-passage sci-fi Never Let Me Go, Garfield chatted to The Hollywood Reporter{
"I have been waiting for this phone call for 24 years," he enthused, "for someone to call me up and say, 'Hey, we want you to pretend to be a character that you’ve always wanted to be all your life, and we’re going to do it with cool cameras and cool effects and you’re going to feel like you’re swinging through New York City. Do you want to do that?' 'Let me just consult with my seven-year old self and see what he thinks...'"
Excited? Y'think? "Like every young boy who feels stronger on the inside than they look on the outside, any skinny boy basically who wishes their muscles matched their sense of injustice, God, it’s just the stuff that dreams are made of, for sure. It’s a true fucking honor to be part of this symbol that I actually think is a very important symbol and it’s meant a great deal to me, and it continues to mean something to people."
It's safe to say Garfield, who beat Spidey rivals Jamie Bell, Anton Yelchin, Aaron Johnson, Logan Lerman and Alden Ehrenreich to the role of Peter Parker, will be well-prepared by the time the cameras start rolling at the end of the year.
And if you're looking for an introduction to the future Mr Spidey in the meantime, we've got just the thing.