The Best Time Emma Stone Ever Broke Character In The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The Marc Webb-directed, Andrew Garfield-starring "Amazing Spider-Man" duology is sometimes left by the wayside in discussions of the character's cinematic renditions, sandwiched as it is between Sam Raimi's seminal "Spider-Man" trilogy and the supersized thrills of MCU Spidey. But it does have its fair share of passionate defenders, owing most of all to the one element of the Spider-Man mythology it got more right than any other version: the romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy.
If there's one thing the "Amazing Spider-Man" films are remembered for, it's that effortless, captivating chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, who were given the kind of room to banter and play off of each other usually reserved for romcom protagonists. Being a real-life couple at the time, the two actors often sold the love story at the two films' core even better than the writing itself did. As in the best romcoms, all extraneous concerns disappeared from our minds the moment they locked eyes in an embrace. In fact, one of the most memorable Peter and Gwen moments came as a result of Emma Stone being so involved in the dynamic that she momentarily broke from the screenplay in a big way.
Emma Stone was not supposed to yell "Peter!" when she was webbed to the police car
One of the elements that made Peter and Gwen's relationship dynamic in the "Amazing Spider-Man" duology so unique was the fact that he revealed himself as Spider-Man to her in the middle of the first film — thus freeing her up to take part in that half of his life, and even help out with his superheroic exploits.
Towards the climax of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," one such moment of help occurs when Spider-Man, unable to approach Electro (Jamie Foxx) without having his web shooters fried, is promptly saved by Gwen, who has him magnetize the shooters to make them immune to Electro. Then, as Spider-Man is setting out to battle Electro, Gwen insists that she's coming with him, no matter how dangerous it may be — and he responds to this by webbing her hand to the hood of a police car and making off, prompting Gwen to mindlessly yell "Peter!" and then cover her mouth.
As revealed by Marc Webb in the DVD commentary, the reason for the "oops!" face that Emma Stone makes at having outed Peter's secret identity is so authentic is that it was a genuine mistake (via TV Tropes). The yell and Gwen's reaction weren't in the script, but were in fact a "happy accident" that the filmmakers decided to keep in. And good on them for doing so, because that's just the sort of spontaneous, vividly charismatic little touch that makes the "Amazing Spider-Man" movies special in their own way.