He was a sensualist who was obsessed with living and was so curious about life. Well, Robin’s essence was delight, and it had a richness to it. There’s a contagious sense of delight I can sense you having in this role. But Bob Richardson was our genius and Andy Serkis is a master of performance capture, so I trusted that they would let me know if it was too much. So very naturally, without being aware of it, my face and my eyes began to do things that might look quite overwhelming, especially in a close-up.
Everything that can’t be expressed by his body goes to the place where it can be expressed, and it only is in the face.
I think the same could be said for Robin in this instance, because once he decided to truly say yes to staying alive for as long as he’s able to, his life force comes back. I feel like we’re coming out of this era of screen naturalism, where performances are allowed to be more maximal again. That may be an unfounded fear because I love sizable performances on film, especially when they’re by performers who push the boundaries of what people deem the right kind of size. In film, there’s this kind of constant fear that you’re going to be doing too much. When your physical movement as an actor is restricted solely to your face, what do you learn about your technique? I do feel like this was the role that your eyebrows were meant to play. I find that really interesting, and occasionally frustrating. This isn’t my interview - this is through your prism, your perspective. So to be vulnerable with the press requires a lot of faith.īut it’s inevitable, isn’t it? Especially in print, because this is your interview. … And then also, when you talk to people like me, you have no idea how we’re going to frame the things you say. First, you put yourself in the hands of a director and editor who get to be the definitive authors of your performance … But you do make yourselves vulnerable in ways that people may not appreciate.
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Listen, movie stars have a pretty good life, by and large. It’s usually in those moments that things get spun out and made into something that they’re not. And that’s what breaks my heart sometimes, especially when you go deep with someone and you actually get somewhere. When we talked about 99 Homes, you were unusually candid, and I think people weren’t prepared for that. We talked about the film for Vulture, but first talked about the process of doing interviews in general. It’s a character that Garfield acts solely from the neck up, using his big eyes, plummy voice, and movie-star charisma to pull you in. In the fact-based drama, directed by Andy Serkis, Garfield plays British polio patient Robin Cavendish, whose near-total paralysis ultimately cannot stifle his spirit or his devotion to wife Diana (Claire Foy). His new role in the film Breathe leverages his intense desire to connect better than any part he’s had so far. The 34-year-old Garfield is a passionate speaker whose words tumble out of him as though he has no other choice but to speak he would rather be ebullient than careful. Discussing his utter commitment to the lead role of AIDS-afflicted Prior, as well as his weekend diversion watching episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Garfield joked, “I am a gay man right now, just without the physical act.” This past summer, he was criticized for comments he made while starring in the London revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, which the British star will reprise when the play comes to Broadway early next year. When I spoke to Garfield on the phone again several months ago to promote Silence, it was just after Donald Trump’s election, and Garfield likened Trump’s campaign manager to the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. In truth, Garfield has plenty to say, and he’s never shy about expressing himself, even if those words can land him in hot water. In a world where actors go through the chipper motions on their press tours, Garfield’s candor was so striking that some outlets framed his quotes as part of a potential breakdown. That Vulture interview, meant to promote his 2015 housing-crisis drama 99 Homes, was a spiky but fascinating chat where Garfield aired out his frustrations not just with politics but with Hollywood, and his own stardom, after two big-budget films playing Spider-Man. “Last time I saw you, we did an interview that got quite a lot of airplay.”
“Good to see you again,” he says, sitting in the middle of an anonymous Toronto conference room. Photo: Laurie Sparham / Bleecker Street | Participant MediaĪndrew Garfield grins as I come in.