Andrew Garfield covers Nylon Guys June/July 2020. In the accompanying interview, the 28-year-old actor sits down for a chat with the magazine and talks about his epic role as Spider-Man and the effects of newfound fame. ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ hits theaters July 3. In March, Garfield made his debut in Mike Nichols’ Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of ‘Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman,’ role for which he has been nominated for a Tony Award as a best featured actor in a play.
Speaking about accepting the role of Peter Parker in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, Garfield admitted that, “The only downside to doing the movie was the profile — the scope, and the scale of it. That’s what I wasn’t interested in. I was interested in the character and being this boy that I’ve always dreamed of being, since I was three years old.”
Well, but such a high-profile part brings along much more exposure. Still, Garfield admits he just wants to be an actor. “The exposure that’s going to come with it doesn’t make me happy, and I’ve discovered that I do just want to be an actor — I don’t have any interest in being a movie star. I’m finding out where that distinction is,” Andrew confesses.
In March 2020, Andrew made his Broadway debut as Biff Loman in the revival of ‘Death of a Salesman,’ directed by Tony winner Mike Nichols at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. On the positive reviews he’s earned from critics for his role, Garfield says that we, as human beings, need some kind of confirmation that what we are doing is right.
“I haven’t read any,” he says. “That’s something I struggle with — the whole validation thing… we all need validation as human beings. We all need a pat on the back occasionally — like, the monkey gets a banana, or, ‘You’re doing all right, keep going.’”
On giving himself over entirely to the Broadway production, the actor told Nylon magazine that, “You have to… it’s more painful if you don’t. Sometimes you can’t get there because you’re exhausted or you’re on steroids or your body is like, ‘No, no, no — I can’t go through this again right now.’ You’re putting your body through trauma every night, especially in a play like this, and your job is to convince your body that it’s true. And that’s thrilling — but it f*****g kills you. All that I have is given to the stage.”
What about ignoring much of the criticism and scrutiny? “This is the problem with the Internet — we’re f****d. It’s f****d my generation. We’re all public now, everyone lives in public, even, like, 10-year-old girls getting bullied, getting called fat on YouTube. Gay boys committing suicide on college campuses. We’re all f****d. The Internet is a great platform for anonymous cruelty, and it allows us to express and exercise very dark impulses.”
Read Andrew Garfield’s full interview in the June/July 2020 issue of Nylon Guys, on stands now.
Photos courtesy of NYLON Guys