From Spider-Man to Virgin Man... Andrew Garf ield to play Branson
SPIDER-MAN star Andrew Garfield is to portray Sir Richard Branson in a new £25 million series about the Virgin tycoon’s life.
Oscar-nominated Garfield, 38, who was born in California but brought up in Epsom, Surrey, will star as the billionaire businessman in the six-part show Hot Air, to be produced by Universal Studios.
The series is based on the book Dirty Tricks by investigative reporter Martyn Gregory and tells the story about how Branson launched Virgin Atlantic in 1984 with one leased aeroplane.
By 1990, as Virgin Atlantic grew, British Airways allegedly launched a dirty tricks campaign prompting Branson to sue his rivals, a case that was settled before it went to court. The billionaire received
£3.5 million from BA after it was revealed some BA workers had allegedly impersonated Virgin employees to try to lure passengers away.
Branson sold a 49 per cent stake in his airline to Singapore Airlines in 1999 for £600million.
Garfield was nominated for an Oscar for last year’s film Tick, Tick . . . Boom!. He is best known for playing the superhero in three blockbusters including last year’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
He recently announced he was taking time off from acting to focus on his personal life, saying he needed to ‘recalibrate’ his life.
‘I’m really happy and excited to be very quiet and still and take some time to just be,’ he said.
‘It feels very important right now, especially after a lot of output, a lot of being out in the world, and giving a lot of energy to things that I’m very passionate about, but I have to kind of refill the well.’
He has not ruled out playing Spider-Man again, a role which has helped boost his fortune to £22 million, according to some reports.