The 2023 Oscars were a success. Jimmy Kimmel was the perfect host who kept the audience entertained with his jokes. One of the opening monologues of the night was Kimmel referring to a group of some of the best actors in Hollywood as his security team. This group included Steven Spielberg, Michael B. Jordan, Michelle Yeoh, Pedro Pascal, and Andrew Garfield. While the other actors made cool motions when their names were called, Garfield did the complete opposite when he was referred to as Spider-Man by Kimmel. Was it to show respect to his Spider-Man: No Way Home co-star Tom Holland?
Andrew Garfield Goes Off-Script At The 2023 Oscars
In a chat with Variety, the executive producer of the Jimmy Kimmel Live show and Jimmy Kimmel’s wife, Molly McNearney spilled the beans about the Oscars ceremony. She said that Michelle Yeoh, Steven Spielberg, Michael B. Jordan, Andrew Garfield, and Pedro Pascal were informed a few moments before the show went live that they would be a part of a joke as Kimmel’s fake ‘security team.’ The stars were asked to make some sort of cool gesture in response.
As per McNearney:
“I went up to Michelle, Michael, Pedro, Andrew, Steven Spielberg, and we told them minutes before the show started, ‘you’re going to be on camera, Jimmy’s going to refer to you as part of his security team. If you could just show some kind of physical support or give him a fist bump. They were all game and they were very supportive.”
Garfield was requested to do a Spider-Man web sling motion but as every viewer watching the show saw, he instead made a quirky face at the camera when Kimmel said “You are gonna have to tangle with Spider-Man.” But McNearney isn’t upset. She said “he made his own choice. Which I think was even better.” Now viewers are wondering if he did this to show respect to Tom Holland.
Did Andrew Garfield Grimace At The Spider-Man Comment To Honor Tom Holland?
There’s no way to know if Andrew Garfield’s grimace at being called Spider-Man by Kimmel was due to him feeling uncomfortable at being referred to as such because Tom Holland is the current webslinger. However, it’s undeniable that he deeply respects Holland and his version of the friendly neighborhood superhero. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Garfield said that he never wanted to detract from Holland’s Peter Parker’s story in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
As per the actor:
“There was so many unanswered questions for my Peter, where we left it. I got to step back in and get some healing for him. And also really supporting [Holland’s] Peter, and honoring his character completing that trilogy, not distracting or detracting from it.”
Apart from this, chances are that Garfield went with that unique reaction just to stand out from everyone else in the group. He hasn’t commented on his grimace at the 2023 Oscars and it’s highly unlikely that he will in the future.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is available to stream on Netflix.
Source: Variety