Andrew Garfield Takes Method Acting Seriously
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You can look for Andrew Garfield in the 2022 series Under the Banner of Heaven. He has a number of acting credits, including portraying Spidey, but it’s 2016’s Silence that he discusses on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, reports Deadline.
According to Garfield, he refrained from sex and other indulgences while filming the Martin Scorsese movie. When talking to Maron, he said, “There’s been a lot of misconceptions around what Method acting is, I think…It’s not about being an asshole to everyone on set.”
He goes on to explain what it means to him: “It’s actually just about living truthfully under imagined circumstances, and being really nice to the crew simultaneously, and being a normal human being, and being able to drop it when you need to and staying in it when you want to stay in it.”
There has been some push back, with other actors – David Harbour, Mads Mikkelsen, Sebastian Stan – criticizing the technique. Garfield, putting it lightly, does not appreciate the sentiments shared by his peers, saying, “I’m kind of bothered by this idea that ‘Method acting’s f*cking bullsh*t.’ No, I don’t think you know what Method acting is if you’re calling it bullsh*t — or you just worked with someone who claims to be a Method actor, that isn’t actually acting the Method at all.”
He considers the process private and people may not 100% get it, looking in from the outside.
Here’s a peek at the trailer for 2016’s Silence:
It makes us think of the expression, "To each their own."
Do you think his method paid off?