I sort of don’t have words for this new Andrew Garfield interview with Vulture. He’s promoting 99 Homes, the film set in the wake of the real estate crisis circa 2009. It’s supposed to be a pretty dark, political film about socio-economic inequality and how the system is stacked against people living in poverty. Garfield starts the interview by saying, “Why the f–k am I doing this? Coming in today to do interviews, I’m like, Why? I know that I’m an actor and it’s part of the job, and I feel lucky I get to do that, but with the interviews, it’s such a weird thing. What do I have to say?” It gets more angsty from there. You can read the full piece here, which I would recommend because there’s some interesting back-and-forth which doesn’t translate well in these highlights. Highlights:

After Vulture coherently describes the film: “Why don’t you just do this interview? You’re saying the right sh-t….Just attribute what you’re saying to me.”

The gilded prisons: “I do believe that films like this are a part of the slow change that every movement undergoes … and it’s always f–king slow…But I think awareness is being raised all the time. There are so many people now who seem to be onto them, onto [Rupert] Murdoch and [Donald] Trump, and to whoever those folks are who are governing the system that isn’t serving the have-nots. I don’t believe it’s serving the haves either, because they’re in their own gilded prisons. There’s this culture of separation that’s been created, and it makes me feel sick to walk around big cities and to know the struggles of those who are the least served by the system. The only way things do change is if everyone comes together. It takes everyone to lend who they are, and for me, it’s through storytelling and from being able to talk about the powerless feeling that I’m living in and asking the question, “What power do I have? And then how do I act upon that?”

On Donald Trump: “Scares the sh-t out of me, too. Yeah, I don’t have an answer. Of course I don’t. But I know I’m upset, I know I’m deeply offended by our culture as it stands.”

Whether he feels like the culture is hostile to him: “Yes. I’m not accepted. None of us are accepted in this culture. We’re only accepted if we are … well, name it. White. [famous, heterosexual] … Handsome, charming, charismatic, thin-enough eyebrows to be beautiful, but thick enough to still be masculine. We are told constantly we’re not enough, we’re told constantly that we don’t have enough, we’re told constantly that we’ll never be enough. It’s that dangling-carrot thing. That was my experience with the Spider-Man thing. It’s like, “Oh, f–k, my life is now great!” But in fact, I’m still f–ked up in my own ways, and insecure, and scared, and don’t really know who I am. Celebrity is the new religion, as far as I can see, along with money, power, status. It’s all the same umbrella — the seductive forces of evil, really.

His earnest desire: “I sincerely want to help create beauty in the world and move a culture of separateness back towards community. I really, really do, and I think art is a powerful way of doing that. I hope this film is a little step towards that in terms of a conversation. It may be an indictment of all of us.”

[From Vulture]

I’m not offended by Garfield saying “I know I’m deeply offended by our culture as it stands.” He was asked specifically about Donald Trump and I think that comment was mostly about how terrifying it is to see Donald Trump do well in the GOP field. But this sort of offended me: “I’m not accepted. None of us are accepted in this culture.” That coming from a white heterosexual dude is… not great. I understand that he was trying to make a larger statement about what he feels “culture” demands from everyone (an unattainable perfection), but it just struck me that he is a white man with enormous privilege play-acting this idea that he struggles too because his eyebrows aren’t perfect.

Photos courtesy of WENN.