Tobey Maguire opens up about feeling reinvigorated performing as Peter Parker again in Spider-Man: No Way Home

Before Michael Keaton got to make his reappearance as Bruce Wayne and Batman in this year’s The Flash, thanks to time-traveling through the multiverse, a couple of years ago, Spider-Man fans were injected with a web of nostalgia with Tobey Maguire’s surprise appearance as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It had been fourteen years since Maguire donned the red and blue suit, but the actor stepped comfortably back into his “gee-whiz” nature of Sam Raimi’s incarnation that basically kicked off the craze in Hollywood with the original’s record-breaking box office performance.

Maguire’s return in the MCU “[wasn’t] without nerves,” but he was “immediately open” to mixing it up with two other incarnations of Peter Parkers. The Direct reports on the release of the book, The Spider-Man: No Way Home – The Art of the Movie, which has sported concept art for alternate costumes for the returning supervillains, including Green Goblin in Iron Man armor. In the book, Maguire opens up about his experience in returning to the role, “When they called initially… I was like, ‘Finally!’ I just feel grateful—I was really open, immediately, about coming to do this. Not without nerves! But to get to show up with talented, creative people and play together–it’s just a yes. There was such an open-heartedness to coming together and embracing each other and supporting each other that was really beautiful.”

He also describes what it was like for him to work alongside Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. “Working with Andrew [Garfield] and Tom [Holland] was so dear to me, it really was special—a very rich experience for me, all around. It kind of reinvigorated my interest in performing. It felt like a real brotherhood, which was what we were aiming for, too, for us and for the characters. But then to have those dynamics play out—feeling a real connection and love for these guys, and having fun and having a laugh—all of that was energizing and reinvigorating for me.”

And finally, what it was like to reunite with his villainous co-stars. “And it was amazing to work again with Alfred [Molina] and Willem [Dafoe]. I just adore those guys and respect them as the great talents that they are and also just as lovely humans. It was a blast–it was like a reunion.”