"Amazing Spider-Man 2" star Andrew Garfield didn't need CGI webs to play a superhero this week.
The man behind the mask and his director, Marc Webb, swooped into a Bronx elementary school Friday morning to surprise students and instill the message that they all can be superheroes, too.
"Spider-Man is not an alien like Superman or a rich bazillionaire like Bruce Wayne; he's a kid and a kid doing his best," Garfield told the Daily News at the end of his two-hour visit.
"I think that's why we all feel like Spider-Man."
That's the message of a big push called "Be Amazing," a partnership between Sony Pictures and NYC Service, tied to the film, which opens May 2. The initiative has had the flick's actors and director doing volunteer work on every stop along a global publicity tour. While Garfield and Webb were bonding with students in the Bronx, castmates Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan were on similar missions in other boroughs, with the whole superteam reuniting for an assembly in Queens' IS 145 in the afternoon.
As soon as Garfield and Webb arrived at PS 93 in Hunt's Point, the school put them to work.
"This is Andrew Garfield, also known as Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man, also known as the British guy who doesn't know the words of the Pledge of Allegiance," he said over the public address system before leading the school in a recital.
Webb helped to direct his star through it.
From there, it was off to a first grade class, where Garfield read his favorite childhood book, "Oh, the Places You Will Go," to students.
"It's magical for them now, but they'll remember this for years to come," gushed class teacher Barbara Bonanno.
Garfield next enlisted some pint-sized volunteers to film a public service announcement for his favorite charity, Worldwide Orphans, with the organization's founder, Jane Aronson.
The pediatrician turned activist said Peter Parker, a character who lost his parents at an early age, is an important inspiration for the real-life orphans around the world the charity services.
In between takes, the second- and third-graders showed off crayon drawings of their superheroes; one future movie mogul displayed sketches of an Amazing Man and an Awesome Man.
He's a kid and a kid doing his best. That's why we all feel like Spider-Man
The crew came from another nonprofit, the Ghetto Film School, with Webb jumping in to offer advice to the budding auteurs.
"One of the kids asked me, 'What inspires you, what keesp you going?'" Webb told the Daily News afterwards. "I had to think about it for a second and you see these kids who are not doing for the money, they're doing it for the joy of it.
"I feel connected to that."
Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' director Marc Webb, Worldwide Orphans founder Dr. Jane Aronson and Spidey himself, Andrew Garfield, address the school. Garfield, Webb and Aronson wrapped up their visit addressing an assembly of 402 cheering students.
"It's particularly moving to see this reaction when it's from kids who are not cynical by nature," Webb said. "There's some unbridled, very simple, universal joy that these kids are experiencing by being connected to something big."
To find more information on the Worldwide Orphans, visit wwo.org
Source : http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/amazing-spider-man-2-star-andrew-garfield-surprises-bronx-students-article-1.1769061
