There’s a reason why Andrew Garfield would rather hold up signs listing a charitable cause than feed the paps with a smooch pic. In an interview with Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan, the 99 Homes actor talks about the downsides of being taken as a celebrity more than an actor honing his craft.
“I got incredibly uncomfortable with the attention that just came with the job,” admits Andrew, when asked about how he feels with his newfound power, money, and influence as an A-list actor. “It has nothing to do with me, it [has] 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 fucking different.”
He refers to the reality that celebrities are forced to maintain a certain image, solely to commoditize themselves and establish their fame further. “We are told constantly that we’re not enough, we’re told constantly that we don’t have enough, we’re told constantly that we’ll never be enough… That was my experience with the Spider-Man thing,” he confesses.
It’s an inner battle he deals with: Despite his staggering popularity, Andrew stays bothered by the fact that it’s affecting the world in such small, unnoticeable ways. “Is [holding signs to the paparazzi] the best way to commodify your own celebrity, to figure out something worthy to channel it into?” asks Kyle.
“That’s right, I struggle with this question every day,” answers Andrew, “Who am I? Do I have anything to say?”
“I sincerely want to help create beauty in the world and move a culture of separateness back towards community. I really, really do, and I think art is a powerful way of doing that,” he says.
And it is—being in 99 Homes, a film loaded with political themes and in which he plays a laborer, Andrew’s sure to get important messages across.
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