Andrew Garfield has planted his flag in the method acting debate, saying people who criticize the process don’t truly understand it.
Appearing on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast (via Variety), Garfield explained that method acting isn’t about mistreating other members of a production.
“[There’ve] been a lot of misconceptions about what method acting is, I think,” Garfield said. “It’s not about being an a**hole to everyone on set. 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.”
The actor also said critics of method acting may not have a full understanding of what goes into it, saying “I don’t think you know what method acting is if you’re calling it bullsh*t, or you’ve just worked with someone who claims to be a method actor that isn’t actually acting the method at all.”
Garfield himself also detailed his approach to method acting for 2016’s Silence, where he played a 17th-century Jesuit priest. He prepared for the role by researching Catholicism, undergoing spiritual training, and going celibate and fasting ahead of filming, saying he “had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of sex and food”.
There are plenty of examples of method acting, from tame implementations like Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst not speaking to each other while filming The Power of the Dog, to more extreme examples like Jared Leto requiring crutches for his bathroom breaks while on the set of Morbius.
Earlier this year, some actors began speaking out against method acting. Mads Mikkelsen called the practice “pretentious”, Will Poulter said method acting is used as an excuse for inappropriate behavior, and Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Pattinson, and Martin Freeman have also weighed in. Stranger Things actor David Harbour also recently criticized method acting, calling the practice “dangerous” and “silly”.
Garfield also recently decided to take a break from acting after a busy stretch where he appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tick, Tick… Boom!, Under the Banner of Heaven, and more. When he does eventually return to our screens, there are a ton of fans that would love to see him in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
