Andrew Garfield Wanted Tobey Maguire to Be His 'Older Brother/Mentor Figure' on 'Spider-Man' Set

Andrew Garfield may be nominated for an Academy Award, but he's still humbled by fellow actors — especially Tobey Maguire.

In a profile for Vanity Fair's 28th annual Hollywood issue, the 38-year-old actor discusses his respect for his Spider-Man: No Way Home costar and fellow friendly neighborhood webslinging predecessor Maguire, 46.

"I was just obsessed with what he was doing," Garfield said of Maguire's turn as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Sam Raimi's original 2000s trilogy.

As he went into reprising his own role as the character (from The Amazing Spider-Man films) in No Way Home, Garfield remembers thinking, "I have a full heart here, where I want Tobey to be impressed by me."

"I want him to be my older brother/mentor figure and to tell me I'm doing a good job," he added. "I want to compete with him. I want to better him. I want to rib him, have fun with him."

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Maguire and Garfield both reprise their roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man from their respective previous film iterations during No Way Home's second half, in a plot involving multiple Spider-Man universes converging on current star Tom Holland's world.

During a joint video interview with Maguire and Holland, 25, last month, the Tick, Tick ... Boom! actor said his only requirement for reprising his role as Peter Parker for a multiverse plotline in the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise was that his predecessor be involved too.

"I was just waiting to see if Tobey was gonna do it, and if Tobey was gonna do it then I was like, 'Well I have no choice,' " Garfield said.

"I follow Tobey to the ends of the earth. I'm a lemming for Tobey," he joked. "But that was sincerely a big part of it when I was approached about it."

RELATED VIDEO: Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland on Playing Spider-Man: It's an "Extension of My Childhood Dreams"

Director Jon Watts spoke to Variety in January about preparing to film with the only three men who have ever played Spider-Man in the billion-dollar-making film that broke records upon its release.

"We sat on folding chairs in a circle and went through the script together," said Watts, 40. "I had talked to everyone separately, but to have everyone together to talk about the story, how the pieces fit together and what Spider-Man meant to them — that was exciting for me."

He continued, "We had the only three actors to ever play Spider-Man in a film, and each had been through so much, on and off screen. It was like a Spider-Man therapy session."

Watts added that he made sure to soak up the moment with the three stars while he could, knowing it was a rare time in cinematic history: "You're capturing something more than a scene from a movie; you're watching a once-in-a-lifetime event."