ALONG CAME THE NEW SPIDER-MAN

Following a lengthy search, Sony has selected British-American actor Andrew Garfield to take over the Spider-Man role from Tobey Maguire. Garfield, 26, whose looks and demeanor suggest that he could be Anthony Perkins returned from the dead, is already well known in the U.K. for his starring roles on television dramas, but he is virtually known in the U.S., his birthplace. He has a starring role in David Fincher’s The Social Network, about the beginnings of Facebook, in which he plays Eduardo Saverin, one of the social network’s founders. It is due to be released on Oct. 1. In a statement, Sony Pictures Co-chairman Amy Pascal said, “From the first time we saw him in the upcoming film The Social Network, to his glorious screen test, which floored all of us, we knew that we had found our new Peter Parker.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed. It was widely reported that Maguire received a record $50 million to appear in the last Spider-Man feature.