99 Problems and questions. Andrew Garfield unleashed his many thoughts about celebrity culture, his career, and his personal life in a loaded new interview with New York Magazine's Vulture.
According to the writer, Kyle Buchanan, Garfield — who was promoting his new movie, 99 Homes, a thriller that highlights America's mortgage crisis — was already agitated when they met in one of the rooms of a plush Beverly Hills hotel.
"Why the f–k am I doing this?" Garfield, 32, questioned. "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?"
Buchanan then launched into some questions about the film itself, one which warranted a sigh as a response from the Social Network actor. "It’s so heavy even talking about it. Hearing you talk, I just suddenly feel like my head is wrapped in cellophane. How do we wake up, how do I wake up? What do I do? Because I can stand here and be like, ’We need to f–king do s–.' I can say that. But if I’m not doing anything, what the f—k am I really doing?"
The reporter then replied: "Art is a part of it. Art can make people see things in a different way than an editorial in a newspaper."
Garfield replied, “Why don’t you just do this interview? You’re saying the right s–t."
The actor admitted that while the wealth and power of fame was alluring, things changed when he landed the role of Spider-Man. "It was a character that I wanted to play my whole life and not one part of me was indifferent … but I got incredibly uncomfortable with the attention that just came with that job. It was nothing to do with me, it was to do with this idea of celebrity. Hopefully I’m just more myself as I get older and as I grow, but in our culture they’re telling us to be something totally f–king different."
Garfield said that while his life transformed after he starred in the franchise opposite girlfriend Emma Stone, he's still unsure of himself.
"It’s like, 'Oh, f–k, my life is now great!'" he recalled. "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…. That’s right. I struggle with this question every day. Who am I? Do I have anything to say?"
Buchanan wasn't bothered by Garfield's forthcoming interview. In fact, he tweeted about the positive experience.
Andrew Garfield and I really got into it. In a good way! https://t.co/S24oJ6eAMq
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) October 1, 2015
