Andrew Garfield Opens Up About '99 Homes,' Donald Trump Dislike, Facebook, and Scorsese
He’s played a superhero and a billionaire. Soon, Andrew Garfield will add another notch to his IMDb résumé: starring in a Martin Scorsese film. The 32-year-old actor will play a Jesuit priest in the filmmaker’s 2016 movie Silence.
First up, though, is 99 Homes, out on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and digital HD Tuesday, Feb. 9. The drama, co-starring Michael Shannon and Laura Dern, stars Garfield as a financially strapped single father struggling to make ends meet. The film’s central issue has particular resonance, Garfield told Yahoo Movies during a phone interview, which covered topics ranging from his extreme distaste for Donald Trump to his near-run-in with Facebook billionaire Eduardo Saverin — whom the actor portrayed in the 2010 Oscar-winning film The Social Network (and who he still hasn’t met to this day). Here’s what Garfield had to say…
…On how financial setbacks have touched his life.
I have some friends who are struggling with similar issues. And my family went through something similar — not down to the extreme [of losing our home] — when I was a teenager. I also met a lot of families in Florida in the process of my preparation — people who had gone through losing their homes. A couple of baby steps to the side and this could have been me. For me the desire was to attempt to represent this very universal and particular struggle, especially in America right now.
On what’s broken with the system.
Obviously I’m an actor, I’m not an economist, I’m not a politician. My entry point to this particular situation is an emotional one. All I know is that no one’s happy, everyone’s completely terrified, and no one feels all that secure. The pervading attitude is: If I have to eat, I’m going to have to steal it from your mouth. That feels very American, that feels very capitalist, like if you’re not winning you’re losing. If you’re not No. 1, you’re worthless… Of course, I don’t have a solution.
Watch an exclusive clip from ‘99 Homes’:
On Donald Trump.
There is a very sick, toxic system that is pitting us against each other as human beings and keeping us as far away from each other as possible. Donald Trump is the perfect example of that. He’s the cheerleader of the system we’re in right now. He’s all about exile, he’s all about inhumanity — that’s what he’s running on: inhumanity, lack of empathy, and lack of compassion. He’s running on — whew — just the darkest impulses in our human nature, that is OK with others suffering. I actually don’t think we as a race are OK with other human beings suffering if we spend a long enough time looking at other people.
On almost meeting Facebook billionaire Eduardo Saverin:
I knew he was in Singapore when I was promoting the last Spider-Man movie and he was supposedly going to come to an event — Earth Hour — he’s a big donator and on the board of the Earth Hour charity. He was supposed to be there and I was incredibly nervous and excited to finally meet him and ask him if he feels totally misrepresented by me and my portrayal of him. When I made the movie, I only had two pictures to go on for him. I had a picture of him sober and a picture of him drunk and that was my inspiration board — this blank quark board with two pictures of this illusive man [laughs]. So I had to fill in the gap. I’m so happy that the film is out there… to work with [director David] Fincher and [writer] Aaron [Sorkin] and I’ve just been reading great reviews of the Steve Jobs film that Aaron wrote, so I’m really excited for that.
On his Facebook-less life.
I don’t do any of that stuff. I’m feeling less inclined to as time goes on — probably because of the noise. There’s so much noise and I struggle to be quiet and find myself in a quiet place — even while not being involved in Facebook and Twitter and all those things. I’m feeling more and more pushed back from that way of communicating.
On hearing fans quote The Social Network.
It doesn’t often happen. There’s that “lawyer up” scene or “My Prada’s at the cleaners!” That’s all Aaron. He’s this incredible writer who creates these iconic turns of phrases. My favorite lines of that film aren’t my lines. The Winklevoss twins — there’s a Karate Kid reference that’s one of my favorite lines in the whole film.
On Martin Scorsese’s forthcoming drama Silence, in which Garfield plays a priest.
It’s based on the Japanese book [of the same name] by Shūsaku Endō. My god — no pun intended [laughs]. Marty’s been wandering around this material for 15, 20 years. It’s pretty endless. That’s the beauty of working on a great piece of literature, which this is. It’s the same thing with [my 2010 film based on a novel] Never Let Me Go or something that Aaron [Sorkin] would write. You’re never going to crack it. It’s the same thing with Shakespeare — you’re never going to figure it out. There’s always more to understand with these great artists who are writing these great masterworks.
On his spiritual guide for the film.
I had a year preparing, just swimming around in Jesuit culture and asking the question: What is it to live a life of faith? What is it to live a priest’s life? And why, how, and could I? The majority of my time spent in that year before we went and shot it was with a wonderful Jesuit priest named Father James Martin. I’m seeing him today actually while I’m in New York. He’s become a mentor and wonderful figure in my life. He became my spiritual director, really. He’s a writer and he’s just this beautiful man who lives this incredible life of generosity and humility. The majority of my work was with him and we ended up creating a very deep bond. It was a beautiful world to steep myself in. I’m very sad that it is over. I wish there was a trilogy of Silence so I could keep doing it because it’s such a rich story.
On working with the Oscar-winning director for the first time.
There’s too much to say, really. Whatever I say here is going to minimize. The most important thing to me is that [Scorsese] wanted to make this film for so long, it’s such a part of him. Before he became a filmmaker he wanted to be a priest. He was going to join the seminary as a teenager — that was one of his first callings. This is profoundly important to him. This story has been ruminating in his soul for so long. Just being on the journey with him was enough, really. That was everything. Just being able to stand there with him each day and try to live out his vision for this film was — it felt like I was in service of something much greater. That was awesome — not in the modern sense of the word but the literal one — awesome, full of awe.
On the prospect of making Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, given the director’s reputation for intensity on set.
I’m about to go out tomorrow to Australia. We start filming in a couple of weeks. I hope it’s intense. I’m sure it will be. I hope he will be. I like that. I need that. I get bored otherwise. I’ll probably complain as soon as we start shooting but I secretly just love it. I’ve spent time with [Gibson]. Obviously we’ve been talking about the story, the script, the character, and so far so good. He’s so smart and loving and generous. I was just with a mutual friend of he and I today here in New York and we were just singing his praises. He’s just a proper good friend and a really loyal man and incredibly passionate about what he does. I think he’s a fantastic filmmaker. I’m really excited. Be careful what you wish for: I really hope it has an intensity to it. It should.
Watch the trailer for '99 Homes’:
