Was Andrew Garfield Fired From ‘Spider-Man’ Franchise Because Of Sony Chief Diss?

Why was Andrew Garfield fired as the man behind Peter Parker? The reason behind this major change in the Spider-Man franchise is now making news on the internet. According to the International Business Times, Garfield was fired because he did not attend a big event being held by Sony.

At the event, Sony Chief Kaz Hirai planned to reveal that Garfield was continuing as Peter Parker for The Amazing Spider-Man 3. The event was held right after the World Cup last year. At the last minute, Garfield decided he did not want to attend the event. Reports said he had a scruffy looking beard, and he was not dressed for a party.

This decision by Garfield forced the Sony Chief to rewrite his speech. The original speech honored Andrew and his work with Sony. The text of the original speech is below.

“Andrew is an actor who has graced the screen in roles in several important Sony Pictures Entertainment films, including The Social Network, in which he played Mark Zuckerberg’s onetime friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin. The Social Network, to my mind, is the Citizen Kane of the 21st Century, a film that social historians hundreds of years from now will point to as one of the most emblematic of our era.

“Another historic movie starring Andrew is The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which continues to weave movie magic in hearts and minds around the world. Together those two films have taken in more than $XXX million at the global box office.

“I’m proud to say that Andrew will be returning as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, which will be released in May, 2016.”

Showbiz411 shared a number of internal emails from Sony that detailed the incident as well. The emails show the last-minute change, and it was made clear that Andrew’s decision to avoid the event was “embarrassing” for Sony.

It was after this incident that Sony decided to go in another direction with Spider-Man. A previous Inquisitr report shared that the next film in the franchise will focus on Peter Parker in high school. The new film will focus on a teenage Parker, and it will be a project done by Sony and Marvel.

Kevin Feige will work on the next Spider-Man, and he is looking for an actor who will help bring a 15- to 16-year-old Peter Parker to life. He spoke about the decision to focus on this time period in an interview.

“Some of my favorite Spider-Man arcs and Spider-Man stories, he’s in high school for a lot of it. We want to explore that. That also makes him very, very different from any of our other characters in the [Marvel Cinematic Universe], which is something else we want to explore: how unique he is when now put against all these other characters.”

There are reports out about the casting of the new Peter Parker, and the final decision could happen this week. According to Movie Pilot, the decision is now between Asa Butterfield and Tom Holland. Butterfield is from Ender’s Game, and he is 18-years-old. He was considered the top candidate for the role, but Tom Holland is now also being considered.

Fans will see the new Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War. That film is set for release in 2016. This will be Spider-Man’s first appearance in a Marvel Universe film made by Marvel. Following Parker’s appearance in the Captain America film, Spider-Man will have his own solo film release in 2017. The title for that film is rumored to be Spider-Man: The New Avenger.

Right now, there is not much known about the new direction Marvel is taking with the Spider-Man franchise. It is known that his costume has already been designed and his origin story will not be told again.

In the world of Spider-Man on the big screen, this shake-up is the third for the franchise. Andrew Garfield replaced Tobey Maguire when Sony decided to reboot the franchise after his third outing as the superhero.

What do you think of the rumors surrounding Andrew Garfield’s firing from the franchise?

[Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images]