Earnestness can ferment into sentimentality.

Audiences can tell when you're being fake and they will eat you alive. But if you're doing something authentic they will connect to it and that can lead to commercial success.

One of my life philosophies is that you have a choice to make when you're doing something creative. You can be cheesy... or you can be lame.

Romance: That's one of the things that makes Spider-Man really unique, in terms of the comic books. There is a tender, romantic quality to it. And certainly, that's something that's always fascinated me about the cinema: good romance.

I think that Spider-Man is a part of our culture. He's a perennial character. He's something that's constantly reexamined and there are so many versions of him in the comics that it was something that I thought that we could do cinematically. He belongs on the big screen.

Earnestness can ferment into sentimentality.

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