It's very important to keep the emotions grounded, to keep the characters in some real place.

I always remembered that when I saw people get married they got on a rocketship and went to Planet Happiness, Population: Them.

I think it's really important, when you're redefining a character [ Spider-Man], for the audience to experience things that they haven't experienced, from the ground up. I wanted to build a character. I feel like point of view is a really crucial thing in the story, and that you need to build up the emotional building blocks, so that you can experience all the other emotions in a very specific way, rather than just experiencing it in an intellectual way.

I was a Marvel guy. I started reading comics when I was a kid.

I just like that dynamic in relationships in movies where they're kind of lovers as rivals, you know?

Earnestness can ferment into sentimentality.

There's a punk rock quality to Peter Parker, that I identified with when I read the comics [Spider-Man], and that I really liked. He has this chip on his shoulder.