In an interview with Entertainment Tonight (via Insider), Garfield said that he nearly landed the role of Prince Caspian, who is played by fellow British actor Ben Barnes in Andrew Adamson’s 2008 film “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.” But Garfield’s looks — or, apparently, lack thereof — got in the way. “I remember I was so desperate,” said Garfield when prompted to talk about a career setback. “I auditioned for Prince Caspian in ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and I thought, ‘This could be it, this could be it.’ And that handsome, brilliant actor Ben Barnes ended up getting the role.” Garfield, who most recently reprised his role as the titular Marvel web slinger in “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” said, “I think it was down to me and him, and I remember I was obsessed.”
Garfield said that he kept inquiring after the role, asking “Why not me?” and begging his agent to tell him why he was getting passed up for the role. “She eventually just broke under my incessant nagging and she was like, ‘It’s because they don’t think you’re handsome enough, Andrew,’” the actor said. “Ben Barnes is a very handsome, talented man,” Garfield added. “So in retrospect, I’m not unhappy with the decision and I think he did a beautiful job.” Barnes went on to star in TV’s “Westworld” as Logan Delos. In the same interview, Garfield also talked about how he and Tobey Maguire snuck into “Spider-Man: No Way Home” screenings to gauge audiences’ reactions to their cameos. “I still can’t believe it happened,” Garfield said. “I snuck into a theater on opening night and just watched with my baseball cap on and my mask. In fact, I was also with Tobey, me and Tobey snuck into a theater together and no one knew we were there. It was just a really beautiful thing to share together.” He added, “There’s something spiritual that kind of happened and happens, and that we were exploring in the film. Which is like, archetypically, the character is so alone…. that’s an important part of the character in terms of the canon of Spider-Man, for me in a way.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
