Last month, Andrew Garfield got in trouble. I felt sort of bad for him, honestly. Andrew is currently starring in a London production of Angels in America, Tony Kushner’s epic treatise about the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. It’s a very dark play and actors who take on these roles have to really commit to going THERE every night and twice on Sundays. Which is what Garfield talked about as he was doing press for the play. He told journalists he prepared for the role by trying to immerse himself in gay culture via… RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“Every Sunday I would have eight friends over and we would just watch Ru. I mean every single series of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I mean every series. This is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now just without the physical act—that’s all…. As far as I know, I am not a gay man. Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful, as well.”
The whole idea that Andrew Garfield was out here claiming gayness “without the physical act” didn’t go over so well. Nor did he win any fans by reducing gayness to “watching RuPaul” or “doing a play.” So there was backlash online, on Twitter mostly, although I did see some thinkpieces about Why Andrew Garfield Needs To Shut His Mouth or whatever. In any case, Andrew is trying to clarify:
“That’s of course not what I meant at all,” he told Newsbeat. “That discussion was about this play and how deeply grateful I am that I get to work on something so profound. It’s a love letter to the LGBTQ community. We were talking about, ‘How do you prepare for something so important and so big?’ and I was basically saying, ‘I dive in as fully as I possibly can.'”
He noted that his goal is to continue to support the LGBTQ community and help progress the conversation around it.
“My only longing is to serve and to keep the world spinning forward for the LGBTQ community in whatever way I’m meant to,” he said. “It’s important to a community that I feel so welcomed by. The intention [in my comments] was to speak to that, speak to my desire to play this part to the best of my ability and to fully immerse myself in a culture that I adore.”
I get what he’s saying, and I think it’s a little bit funny that he puts it in these terms: “I was basically saying, ‘I dive in as fully as I possibly can.'” I’m sure there are some gay guys out there who are side-eyeing him, saying, “Bang a dude or GTFO with this ‘I’m gay as I can be without actually banging a guy.’” Andrew doesn’t have to bang a dude to prove that he’s an ally, or to prove that he’s treating the material with respect, but given the way he framed it, I can see how people would say that. He’s an actor playing a gay man in a seminal work about the AIDS crisis and how it devastated the gay community. He worked hard to immerse himself in the role. His first comment was insensitive, but he clarified it okay and his heart is in the right place.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He’s just very Method, thats all.
CTFO, people. This overreaction reminds me of the Hiddles’ GG speech backlash. So unnecessary.
His heat is really in the right place. I appreciate his clarification but was it really necessary?
It seems that there’s no correct way to express oneself.
Agreed, @diana. There seems to be nothing that anyone (by that I mean famous/not famous people) can say these days that doesn’t offend someone. I can see why the trend is to just simply stop expressing oneself online, publicly or in ear shot of anyone. The only “safe space” these days is in front of one’s bathroom mirror – alone.
Agree with all of you. This guy takes his work ultra seriously and since he does method acting it might be hard for him to feel he’s doing right by the role. I just think he’s insecure but serious about his career a bit. Reminds me of Hiddleston.
I missed something. How did he fully prepare for it again?
He adores the gay community, does he. Because he knows so much from watching television?
Next time, just hire a gay man to play the role. There are plenty who aren’t going to marginalize the struggles and claim to “dive in” from watching Drag Race.
The RuPaul comment was said tongue in cheek, tone was lost in translation. He did a lot of other research but the media cherry picked the RuPaul comment for max outrage. Here’s the audio for tone & context https://soundcloud.com/madigan-penn/nt-talks-denise-gough-andrew-garfield
He meant that he immersed himself in the gay community which actually means that he sees it as a) a culture (not many do) b) an important culture.
Is this a new thing to knock down your allies? “Let’s kick this guy to the curb for daring to use imagetic language whe defending a minority. How dare he?”
Are you meant to say that only gays can play gays, only straights can play straights, only bisexuals can play bisexuals? We’re missing what art is about with this kind of attitude: creating something that reflects the world and not the actor’s life. Cinema, theatre are not reality TV (which is also completely fake by the way).
It’s troubling, and smacks of the “not gay/bi enough” hurtful nonsense that the LGBTQ+ community is dealing with right now. You can be queer without ever having slept with a single person, after all–gay without the act. And yes, if AG is straight, he’d not dealing with the internal stuff a closeted/celibate gay person is, but still–shelve it, don’t promulgate what so many queer people are trying to close down, for good fucking reason.
i don’t like gardfield or his comment and i’m lgbtq+ myself, but saying to hire a gay man to play a gay man is… idk. i want actors who are part of the community to play any sort of parts not just gays, and i feel this argument might be used against it.
Are there enough actually gay actors who could have played the Role? Certainly!
Will the Producers and Directors cast them if they live their Sexuality openly? Chances are Not good!
It is the same Situation for ME ,as for Lot of You here were complaining about couple of days ago, the Discussion about Actress playing Jasmin not beeing colored enough.
Uh, you do know that almost all of the London cast of “Angels in America” (that Andrew stars in) are gay, right? Russell Tovey, Nathan Lane, Nathan Stewart Jarrett, Mateo Oxley, etc….
To RENEE
No i didn’t, but the Brits were not the Directors and Producers i meant when i wrote down my thoughts.
I was taking this Text, this News, from AG as Starting Point and Outlet for my Frustration about People of Power in the Entertainment Business, wether they are American or Elsewhere in the More “OPENMINDED” Countries, still using Hetero or Closet Cases as Leading Men.
The Brits might Be the Exception, for all i know, but of Course i don’t.
Do you Know?
If it helps, I saw the first half of Angels in America last night in London, and OMG he was actually amazing in it. As were the rest of the cast. Genuinely, excellent. One of the best pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen (and this from a previous AG-hater, or if not hater, then at least nothing-er).
He was amazing, entire cast was incredible. Another thing, Garfield plays a flamboyant ex-drag queen in Angels, so what if he watches a bit of RuPaul for inspiration? His research was specific to the character but again, he never equated only Drag w Gay Culture. Anyways, I know there are a bunch of AG haters on this board, but just listen to the 3 min audio posted above for tone & context first
I saw the off Broadway production with Zachary Quinto (Star Trek). I was less than impressed with Quinto’s interpretation. Glad Garfield is doing a better job.
I saw both parts Tuesday, the whole cast were excellent but Garfield (who I have no particular feelings for) was phenomenal. The intensity he demonstrated over the almost eight hours he was on stage was visceral. I go to the theatre a lot (four plays this week) and I think it unlikely I will witness anything else that good this year and definitely not a performance to match his.
Exactly. He was amazing (and I had no particular view of him before this). If he doesn’t win the Olivier, something is wrong with the world.
Still pretentious and clueless. I dislike him which makes me angry because he resembles Andy Murray who I do love.
LOL. I never saw that before but you are so right. Murray >>>>>>> AG any day.
I have such mixed feelings towards this guy. While I think that he’s truly a phenomenal actor, and the best of all his peers, he seems so pretentious and up his own arse sometimes that it takes away from his talent. The only thing I didn’t enjoy him in was Hacksaw Ridge, but he was extraordinary in Boy A, Never Let Me Go, The Social Network, and even those dumb Spider-Man reboots. Like Tom Hardy, his talent and charisma is underminded by the ridiculous things he says (as well as violent transgressions, in Hardy’s case).
he’s a good actor, but he’s insufferable.
God, he was incredible in “Boy A”, but it was so emotionally draining to watch. I agree that he’s a great actor, but I still side-eye this nonsense.
He can be an ally for the queer community without trying to insinuate himself to be a member of it. It’s like a white person saying, “I’m black except for my skin color.” It’s just a bit virtue signal-y IMO.
Also, I sincerely hope you don’t get chewed out by some overzealous Hardy Stan for daring to mention the FACT that he’s violent 😂
I think the real problematic statement is that he might one day “have an awakening later in life”. As if one turns one’s sexuality on & off. Or that maybe one day he’s f*ck a man but for right now he’s straight. I take alot of issue with that as it plays into the idea that being gay is a phase or a choice.
I actually have some sympathy for that comment. I think a lot of people discover that their sexuality is fluid by falling in love with a particular person. In celeb terms, Cynthia Nixon and Sharon Wheatley spring to mind, as women who had always had heterosexual relationships before they fell in love with their wives. I don’t think it has to do with being gay as a matter of choice, but rather a (somewhat sophisticated) acknowledgment that life is long, and we are constantly discovering things about ourselves.
This. History is full of people being people.
I have a coworker that considered herself straight. Was married to a man, had a child with a man. But after getting divorced, moved in with a close female friend….and well….they fell in love and are now a couple. It does happen.
So disappointing to see people still explaining away his ignorant comment. If this were about race or religion he’d be reamed.