It’s been 4 years since predecessor Toby Maguire hung up his spandex garb after 3 eventful Spider-Man sequels, and only 2 years since the new reboot had heartthrob Andrew Garfield donning the red and blue suit.

With the scant breather between the instalments over a decade, we are guessing with our (weak) spidey sense that the audience can be a little jaded of the red-and-blue spider swinging across the silver screen.

Apparently not. The crowd descended upon Marina Bay Sands in the early hours to catch a glimpse of the two-legged arachnid-man setting foot on our sunny island for the first time, with a full cast in tow.

The hype is palpable, considering it’s an international press conference for a Hollywood blockbuster (the last time we had Tom Hanks in town to promote the lame Larry Crowne in 2011).

Besides Andrew Garfield, co-stars Emma Stone – who plays love interest Gwen Stacy (and girlfriend in real life) – and Jamie Foxx as the villain Electro, add to the star wattage. The coincidentally-named director Marc Webb and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, round up the entourage.

The tone of the evening was set from the start, where Andrew playfully touched Emma’s nose on the red carpet, an unexpectedly affectionate gesture that elicited even more screams from fans. Jamie Foxx joined in the fun and started to break out into a solo song and beat box, much to the delight of the crowd.

The press conference kicked off with director Webb informing reporters that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is simply going to be “massive, exciting” and for the lack of a better term, “amazing”. Surely they didn’t fly around the globe to give us press release statements.

In fact, earlier on the red carpet, UrbanWire had ventured bravely to ask both producer Matt Tomach and director Marc Webb the question on everyone’s minds – if Gwen Stacy is playing for the last time on screen, which both evaded quite handily.

The press conference also saw an unexpected jab at Emma Stone, where the homeschooled actress gamely replied to a question on biology in her signature sarcasm much like her character, “I know the answer in my head, but do you know the answer?”

The mood in the room began to be more light-hearted as the cast relaxed and answered questions more humorously. Jamie was equally jovial when asked how he felt about his daughter supporting Spider-Man instead of him as the villain.

He candidly revealed, “She’s smart enough to know that Spider-Man is going to win, but she still loves her daddy.” Cue a drawn-out aww from the crowd. Even villains have soft spots for their kids.

Andrew, who donned his first Spiderman costume at the age of 3, fielded a question about the differences in the dreams he had as a 3-year-old and the dreams he has now, saying that they were “pretty much the same” and he’s still the “same little boy”.

In fact, a common narrative about Spider-Man was echoed by the cast throughout the conference, including the reason for the movie to promote Earth Hour. The 30 year old actor put it succinctly, “The great thing about Spiderman/Peter Parker is that he is the most human of the superheroes…He fumbles and stumbles through life and that’s why the hero is so relatable.”

Director Marc added what made Spider-Man special was his ability to empathize with his enemies and his web powers helped to resolve problems instead of violence.

The questions got more serious when Jamie was asked a question about the difference in races between the Electro in the comic book (who is white), and him as a black actor playing the same role.

He said while stuttering emotionally, “At one point, you stop thinking about your color and start thinking about what you can bring to [the character]. If we constantly think about race and things like that, a lot of people won’t get a chance to do their thing.”

He also credited Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained for transforming himself as an actor, and said that racism “is outdated”.

Jamie ended his reply by hamming it up for everyone by getting into character with the following line: “Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the water spout, down came Electro, and wiped the spider out.”

Judging by the love fest for the cast, especially Spider-Man, we reckon Spidey is still spinning alive and well.

 

Photos Courtesy of Klix Photography, Sony Pictures