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

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

It's really hard to find just a simple character-driven drama, outside of a genre, that was available to direct, except for on TV.

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

Nerds are running the world. Andrew Garfield made a movie [called “The Social Network”] about it. Nerds are no longer pariahs and knowing how to write computer code is longer a [mocked] quality. What was important in those early comics was this notion that Peter Parker is an outsider and how we define that in a contemporary context. That, I think, was one of the challenges for us — getting Peter Parker’s outsider status to be current.

I think one of the things about Peter Parker that is so great, and what has made him and Spider-Man last so long is he is a kid that we all feel connected to, he's not an alien, he's not a millionaire, he's just this kid that has trouble asking girls out.

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.