The Amazing Spider-Man type Movie

Sally Field admits 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, in which she starred as the title character’s Aunt May, is not her “kind of movie.” But Field took the role anyway to work with her friend and producer Laura Ziskin, who died of breast cancer in 2011 soon after finishing the film.

“We knew it would be her last film, and she was my first producing partner, and she was spectacular,” Field told Howard Stern on his SiriusXM radio show.

Field said she didn’t put much thought into playing Aunt May, and found it difficult to “find a three-dimensional character” in Aunt May. “You work it as much as you can, but you can’t put 10 pounds of sh– in a five-pound bag,” she said. “You have to try to make it as much of a character, a logical performance, as you possibly can. Andrew [Garfield], under those circumstances … we found a relationship of who we were.”

Asked by Stern if she took the part to reach a broad audience of superhero fans, Field said no. “That wouldn’t ever blow my skirts up,” she said. “It was just really for my friend.”

Hear Field, who currently stars in Hello, My Name is Doris, talk about her Spider-Man experience in the clip below. See Field discuss her latest project with EW and PEOPLE editorial director Jess Cagle in the video above.