Andrew Garfield, star of The Amazing Spider-Man films, opens up about playing the web-slinging hero. Debuting in Marc Webb's 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man, the actor reprised the role again in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 alongside Emma Stone who played Peter Parker's love interest, Gwen Stacey. The movie received mixed reviews and was a let-down compared to its predecessor. It also earned less than the original film despite an increase in production budget.

There had been plans for a third film in The Amazing Spider-Man franchise after the sequel, which was originally touted to kick-start Sony's own superhero film series with several spinoffs hingeing on the sequel, including Venom and Sinister Six. The studio still moved forward with Venom starring Tom Hardy, which made decent money despite mixed reviews, and is now being positioned to launch the halted universe with Jared Leto's Morbius and the Black Cat and Silver Sable films on the way on top of Venom 2. The main Spider-Man saga, however, met its unexpected end with Sony striking a deal with Marvel Studios to share the character, who is now played by Tom Holland in the MCU.

Related: Spider-Man in the MCU: The Marvel/Sony Deal Explained

Almost four years since he vacated the Spider-Man role, Garfield has moved on with other projects outside the superhero genre. However, a specific moment in his latest film Under the Silver Lake subtly references his days of playing the iconic Marvel hero, re-energizing conversations about that time in his career. During a recent appearance discussing the David Robert Mitchell film caught on video and shared on Twitter by schnapvsideer, the actor was asked about the said scene causing him to open up. Toward the end, he called his relation with the character "very complicated." Watch the full clip below:

In the Under the Silver Lake, Sam (Maguire) gets his hand stuck on a sticky Spider-Man comic book. It clung to his left hand for a few seconds before he got very frustrated with it, causing him to fling it out of the frame. The scene was hilarious, but it also says a lot when one considers how the role (and him eventually losing it) haunted Garfield for a while. It was no secret how passionate Garfield was with Spider-Man - even making a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con where he made a moving speech regarding being able to play the character. Even now, he remains a fan of the hero, but having the experience he had portraying it understandably made him develop a bit of distaste to it.

What makes Garfield's history with the character much worse is the fact that it wasn't his fault that The Amazing Spider-Man franchise wasn't as well-received as Sony wanted it. While it was quite jarring that the actor was playing a teen given his age at that time, he sold the role effectively and his chemistry with Stone was off the charts. It all boiled down to the studio not really knowing how to approach the character as evidenced by leaked emails from their top executives. Whether or not Garfield will ever be involved in another Spider-Man project remains to be seen. His version of the hero was supposed to be featured in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse alongside Tobey Maguire's and Holland's versions but was ultimately scrapped out. That doesn't mean, however, that it won't happen in the planned sequel.

More: How Sony Ruined (And Then Saved) Spider-Man

Source: Andrew Garfield (via schnapvsideer)