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Summary In last months before becoming household name, Andrew Garfield has decided to hide in plain sight.
The British-raised actor, who will star in the reboot of the Spider-Man films this summer, is far from Hollywood but still under the lights: Hes starring opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in a revival of Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman on Broadway.Having spoken to his predecessor, Tobey Maguire, about what its like to be at the center of a white-hot franchise, the 28-year-old actor is enjoying a little me-time in anticipation of the media mayhem to come.There will be a certain stepping out, yes. I think right now all Im trying to do is step in, he says. Not in a shy way. Not in a defensive way. Not in a keep-away-from-me way. Its just that I need to know myself so well if Im going to be able to handle this.A thoughtful, even brooding, man with an angular face, penetrating eyes, taut muscularity from his years as a gymnast and a thick mob of hair, Garfield has been steadily rising in the entertainment business, but he seems determined not to let the swiftness change him.Theres something about letting go of your ego within the work you do which I think will be my everlasting job to attempt. I dont think Ill ever achieve it, he says. When it feels best is when its not about you and its about the thing.The thing right now is just as much an American masterpiece as Spider-Man. Garfield on Broadway is playing the son of the worlds most tragic traveling salesman, Willy Loman.Death of a Salesman is a wrenching, powerful play, one that Garfield, making his Broadway debut, says is as elusive as Shakespeare. Moments of clarity lead to confusion and new things to handle. Its like one of those Whac-A-Mole games, he says, sadly.You dont ever want to feel like youre done because you never are. And if you think you are done, youre deluded and youre not working as hard as you should, he adds.Born in the United States and raised in Britain, Garfield has been working steadily since leaving the Central School of Speech & Drama in London in 2004. Theater work in Manchester Kes and Romeo & Juliet led to work in London, including Beautiful Thing and a trilogy of plays at the Royal National Theatre Burn, Citizenship and Chatroom. He won an Evening Standard award for outstanding newcomer in 2006.It was just sheer volume which got me that recognition, he says with a chuckle. I just worked a lot. Everyone was like, You worked a lot. Give him something. He must not have slept, poor kid.Even so, Garfield, whose natural accent is American, got the attention of producer Scott Rudin, who went to Chatroom to see if the young actor might be right for the part of Clay in a film version of Kavalier and Clay. Rudin was impressed with what he saw. He was the great actor he is now, with a growing skill-set but the same incredible extraordinary availability, Rudin says.Plans for Kavalier and Clay didnt immediately pan out, but Garfield kept going. In 2007 he was voted one of Varietys top 10 to watch and appeared in the films Boy A and in Robert Redfords Lions for Lambs. Other credits include Terry Gilliams The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the British TV series Red Riding and the sci-fi thriller Never Let Me Go alongside Keira Knightley.But his breakout performance became Eduardo Saverin in 2010s The Social Network, a part that Rudin, who produced the film, believed was perfect for Garfield from the moment he read the script. Garfield earned a Golden Globe nomination for the part.He captured the role of Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man after a long audition process, beating several candidates, including the former Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell. Garfield had been a fan of the web-crawler since he was a child, and while he hasnt managed to catch the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, he has watched all the Sam Raimi films.All the way through filming the Spider-Man movie, I felt like I was serving something greater than me. I wouldnt have done it if I didnt. That character has been an important character to me since I was a kid. And all my concern was to make sure that Peter Parker and the symbol of Spider-Man were treated with the reverence that I have for them.Initially, Garfield was hesitant about putting on the mask. He would be replacing Maguire in a franchise he loved. I thought, Why would I do this to myself? But of course you cant consider what people are thinking. You have to just follow your heart and do what you can, he says.Garfield asked Rudins advice when he was in the Spider-Man sweepstakes. I said, Why would you do it? Rudin recalls. He said, Because Ive wanted to play Spider-Man since I was 15. And I said, Thats a great reason to do it. Its probably the only reason to do it. Its really smart. If you have something to say about it, then of course do it.Since then, Garfield has spoken to Maguire, Raimi and Kirsten Dunst and says theyve been supportive. They were all equally funny and supportive and good people. Its just one of those things where I will do the same thing when the next kid comes along, Garfield says. I will be like, Take it. Take it, please.It was while he was filming The Amazing Spider-Man that Rudin called with the offer to be on Broadway in Death of a Salesman, the first time Garfield would be onstage in six years. It was a no-brainer an iconic play directed by Mike Nichols and opposite Hoffman, my favorite living actor.It was kind of, I want to see that show, so why not be as close to it as possible? Garfield says, though he admits feeling nervous: A part of me wished it was a really small, out-of-town theater in a way. With the same cast and the same director, just in someones living room.His next step will be no more intimate: relaunching a comic-book movie franchise. He insists that any pressure is self-inflicted and that for all the tedious hoopla hell have to endure, theres also all that inspiration he can give as Spider-Man. When asked if hell get lost in the machine, he answers in a clear voice: Not if I can help it.Rudin isnt worried, either. Hes very smart and very clear on who he wants to be and what he wants to be. Spider-Mans a great thing for him but I think its a job. I dont think it will be a life-changing thing for him.--AP
