Andrew Garfield Quotes

1. At best, making films and plays, and telling stories, and writing books, at the end of the day it's important and it may not be as important as other things, but people want to see themselves reflected and feel like they're not alone. If I'm going to do any job, I want to do it to the best of my ability and be as generous as possible.



2. I hated school, I hated school. And I didn't realize why. I thought I was…I was, I thought there was something wrong with me for hating school, for not being able to deal with school. At the time it was ingrained in me that school was: if you're not successful in school you're not going to be successful in life. And the hierarchy with the subjects at school, like the arts are given no credence. And if they are, it's false credence. So, I look back on it and and I'm angry. I'm angry about it because, you know, there might be a brilliant ballerina somewhere in school who's being forced to do maths, and she sees it difficult. But if she's just allowed to express whatever gifts she has to offer then she would be happy and then she could make hundreds of thousands of other people joyous for a couple of hours per night.

3. It's meant so much to me, and it's given me so much hope as a skinny little streak of p*ss, who feels more powerful inside than he looks on the outside. Playing Spider-Man is every skinny boy's dream. I'm very lucky. I think I'm going to enjoy making it.





4. Obviously there's something very seductive about movies, which can be attractive in a bad way if you're doing them for the wrong reasons - for money, or for fame. I hope I won't ever do that. I don't feel at home in LA, I feel like I'm on holiday. It's nice to dip your feet in occasionally, but I think it's probably quite unhealthy to spend too much time there at once.

5. A Sunday roast, An English roast, with roast lamb, roast potatoes and gravy. And a good burger. There are some great burgers in Los Angeles. Theres an 8oz. Burger Bar. And Marley is pretty good.

6. I don't like to reject anyone, I just pretend and if I see them and they go: "Oh hey, I requested you on Facebook," I say: "Oh I never use Facebook, sorry."

7. There would be a lot of really nice people saying a lot of nice things. But then I get to the one person who would say: "His eyebrows look big". "He ought to shave his eyebrows". "He looks like a freaking Neanderthal". I thought: Thats so mean. I can't help my eyebrows, dude.

8. Whenever I'm not on stage I wanna watch reality television…I wanna watch, like, The Voice or The Bachelor…Don't be surprised by that - it's the greatest show on TV!

9. As an adolescent, Spider-Man was what got me through tough times in terms of being a skinny kid.

10. I don't believe anyone is ugly.

11. My home is in London. My girlfriend is in L.A. and I have two nationalities, so I can be either here or there, so it doesn't really matter. I'm ok with being kind of slightly nomadic.

12. I'm very neurotic and self-conscious. So I think that I'll know when I'm becoming a dick and believing my own press.

13. In secondary school I was floating - I wasn't passionate about anything. I did a little sport, but it was pretty joyless because the competitiveness was too much to bear.

14. I feel incredibly awkward as a human being and incredibly teenaged still.

15. My parents signed me up for classical guitar lessons, which made for two years of the most depressing Wednesday evenings.

16. Acting came from me being depressed. I was a gymnast and swimmer until 13. Then I gave sports up and started naval gazing. I needed something to keep me afloat, so my parents suggested acting classes. I took them and a very encouraging teacher suggested I could make a career out of it. As soon as that happened, I felt some kind of purpose.

17. (on Hollywood parties/events) Those events that look like so much fun in the photos you see - it's mostly people looking over their shoulders at everyone. They're miserable, those parties.

18. I think too much. Being in my body is much more satisfying than being in my head.

19. The actors that excite me and inspire me are not selfish actors, they do it with purpose. They create characters and tell stories with purpose and generosity for an audience. It's all to serve a story and the themes of the story. That's what excites me. I look at Daniel Day-Lewis, the detail of his performances and how lived in they are. He truly experiences every character's reality that he steps into, that inspires me as well. The potential for exploring aspects of yourself that have been covered up for years or aspects of yourself you didn't realize you had. To step into someone else's shoes like Daniel Day-Lewis does so fully or like DeNiro does so fully.

20. That's all I want, to keep losing myself.

21. All I've ever aimed for is just to be allowed to express myself. And that people seem to enjoy seeing me do my work is more than I could hope for. I don't take it lightly.

22. Having worked with these enormously talented people, I feel Ive now got to make good choices. Its opened some doors, but its much more difficult to accept a job just for the sake of it. That's a luxury, but also a curse.

23. I need to feel like I'm doing some kind of good. It sounds cheesy, I know, but I feel like I have a really big guilt complex and that if I'm not doing any kind of good then theres no real reason for being. I believe that doing movies like this is positive because they can inspire and be entertaining.

24. (on where his guilt complex comes from) Being Jewish and, yes, I'm sure it stems from being privileged. I was brought up in a middle class home. I went to private school. And I was always very aware of me not earning that.


25. I sort of have his voice in my head about how not to get seduced by money, status or superficial things. I don't really want to do "American Pie 7."

26. (on not watching movies that he's in) If I watch myself, then I suddenly have a bunch of things that I'm scared to do. It just upsets me. I've stopped reading reviews, as well. If one is negative, you hold on to that. It was killing me. It was holding me back from being creative and being free…The first thing that was written was (on the subject of blogs and message boards) "What's up with this kid's eyebrows? He looks like a friggin' Neanderthal."

27. (on performing the role of Biff in "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway) The repetition of going through trauma every night onstage is a killer. Your body doesn't know it's not real, even if your mind does. So your body is in a lot of pain, and your heart is in a lot of pain, but it's worth it. I will always think about that theater experience, and it will be very close to me.


28. (on playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man) I see it as a massive challenge in many ways. To make it authentic. To make the character live and breathe in a new way. The audience already has a relationship with many different incarnations of the character. I do, as well. I'm probably going to be the guy in the movie theater shouting abuse at myself. But I have to let that go. No turning back. And I wouldn't want to.

29. I hope that I have to audition for every single job I want. I hope that I'm always struggling, really. You develop when you're struggling. When you're struggling, you get stronger.






30. (on having to work out for his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man) I want to feel stronger than I've ever felt, and I want to feel more flexible than I've ever felt. I want to feel powerful. You don't just want to be a pack of meat - it has to be an open body. It does something to your psyche, and it does something to the way you move.

31. Spider-Man has always been a symbol of goodness and doing the right thing and looking after your fellow man.






32. (on playing Spider-Man) I was just so invigorated and challenged and joyous about it. I was all bruised up and scratched up and it felt really good. Throwing myself against walls, which is incredibly exciting and painful and manhood-testing. It was so much fun.

33. (on not expecting to get the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and then how he felt when he found out he got it) I was genuinely expecting "You're just a shit actor" instead of "We want you to do it." I realized immediately how much hard work it was going to be, and how much of a minefield it was going to be in terms of all the shit that comes with it. Stuff that I would like to not have any part of. I mean visibility and being recognized walking down the street. I'm holding out a naive and ignorant hope that it won't happen. I couldn't gag the 5-year-old self inside of me. I said: "What should we do?" And he was like: (at this point Andrew slips into an accent) "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! Are you f... kiddin' me? It's Spider-Man!" My inner 5-year-old is a New Yorker with a smoker's cough and a horrible mouth.

34. I just think I've always been sensitive and had difficulty containing my feelings, and I've always searched for outlets for that, because otherwise those feelings come out in chaotic ways that aren't always great.

35. (on filming the scene in "The Social Network", in which his character, "Eduardo Saverin", loses his cool and lashes out both physically and verbally at "Mark Zuckerberg", played by Jesse Eisenberg) Are you kidding me? That day and night of shooting was one of my favorite experiences. I was actually proud of myself because I didn't care what I was doing. I was literally not judging myself. And it was so f... beautiful for a second. I've gone through my whole life caring deeply what people think of me. That was probably one of the first times where I didn't care for a second. And it was liberating. I felt more like a man than I've ever felt...That's what always excited me about other people's performances. Abandon.

36. I've realized that at the top of the mountain, there's another mountain.


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