More than a decade after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 hit theaters, Shailene Woodley is opening up about a strange chapter in her career, filming scenes as Mary Jane Watson opposite Andrew Garfield, only to discover roughly a year later that all of her footage had been cut from the film entirely.
Speaking as part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations interview series, Woodley recalled getting the news over the phone with dry humour: “That was a fun phone call.”
The role held deep personal meaning for Woodley at the time.
“I was cast as Mary Jane for Spider-Man, which was my dream because I really, oh my god, Spider-Man’s my favorite superhero,” she said, adding that Mary Jane had been her favourite character growing up.
She filmed three scenes with Garfield’s Peter Parker before director Marc Webb’s team ultimately decided to remove the storyline.
At the film’s 2014 New York premiere, producer Matt Tolmach explained the decision to Variety, saying the production had simply taken on more story than the film could hold.
“We bit off more story than we could tell. We had a 148-page script. We were in the middle of that, and we realized this story [with Mary Jane] is not going to be in this movie.”
Webb offered a similar explanation to The Hollywood Reporter at the time, saying the film needed to stay focused on Peter and Gwen Stacy’s relationship, adding that Woodley was “an incredibly talented actress” the team loved working with despite the cut.
The Amazing Spider-Man franchise ended after just two films, and Woodley’s scenes have never been released, meaning Mary Jane Watson has yet to appear in that particular film series in any form audiences have seen.
In Sam Raimi’s earlier Spider-Man trilogy, the character was played by Kirsten Dunst opposite Tobey Maguire.
During her nearly 90-minute interview, Woodley also reflected on other major roles across her career, including Divergent, The Descendants, The Fault in Our Stars, HBO’s Big Little Lies and Season 2 of Hulu’s Paradise.
