Spoilers Ahead! The Spider-Man: No Way Home Screenplay Is Now Available to Read in Full Online
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Warning: This post contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
All the secrets of Spider-Man: No Way Home are revealed!
The latest Tom Holland entry in the web-slinging franchise, which is reaching new heights at the box office despite the pandemic, is now available to read online via Deadline's "Read the Screenplay" series. The script brings fans a play-by-play of the superhero action.
Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the 182-page script used the codename title Serenity Now to disguise the Spider-Man story, which packs huge surprises. Not the least of which is the return of Tobey Maguire from Sam Raimi's past Spider-Man franchise and Andrew Garfield from Marc Webb's Amazing Spider-Man movies.
This time around, Peter Parker (Holland) navigates his everyday life after the world finds out his superhero identity. Wishing to return to the way things were before everyone knew he is Spider-Man, Peter asks fellow Avenger Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to change the course of history. However, things go haywire when the two unintentionally break open the Multiverse and character from alternate realities start entering their world.
In the screenplay, Maguire's character is listed as Raimi-verse Peter and Garfield as Webb-verse Peter.
The final line of the script explains where Holland's Peter stands after the events of the film: "Spider-Man leaps and soars over the Rockefeller Christmas tree with a newfound sense of freedom. Liberated from having to juggle two lives. Peter Parker is no more, but Spider-Man lives on…."
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Columbia Pictures
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This draft of the screenplay also features Garfield's emotional line to the other Peter Parkers, "I love you guys," which the actor said he improvised. He told Variety earlier this month about participating in the franchise-bending sequel, "There's a line I improvised in the movie, looking at [Maguire and Holland] and I tell them I love them. That was just me loving them."
McKenna and Sommers spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about finishing the jam-packed script, revealing that Maguire and Garfield signed on without even reading the screenplay.
RELATED VIDEO: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland on Playing Spider-Man: It's 'an Extension of My Childhood Dreams'
"They were on board, but they hadn't seen anything," said McKenna. "They knew the idea, they trusted everyone, but we were in the middle of the war of making the movie, changing so much, but also — we were heading toward shooting them, so they had to see pages and basically see, 'Okay, we know there has been a pandemic. We know this thing has gone through a million changes, we know it's been really difficult.' Luckily they read the pages and they were like, 'Oh, okay, yes! We can work with this.' "
Added Sommers, "They had thoughts, and it was really interesting and helpful to see their thoughts. No one knows the character as well as — or gives as much thought to the character — as someone who has to then embody it and sell it. It's always valuable to hear what the actor is thinking. It definitely shaped what we did."
"They had great ideas that really elevated everything we were going for and added layers and an arc and we really actually started honing into the idea that these two guys were really helping Tom's Peter on his journey to becoming who he ends up becoming," said McKenna. "There's a crucial, moral moment that they help him get through in the climax of the movie. So much of that was brought by Tobey and Andrew's ideas and shaping of what they thought their characters could bring to this story."
