Andrew Garfield says he won’t rule out having a same-sex relationship in the future
During a Q&A discussion in London yesterday (July 3rd), Andrew Garfield opened up about his sexuality, saying that he won’t rule out having a same-sex relationship in the future.
The actor is currently starring in the London revival of Angels in America at the National Theatre, where he was asked by an audience member about the resources that he tapped into to play Prior Walter, a gay man living in New York with AIDs during the height of the epidemic, in the play.
“As far as I know, I am not a gay man,” Gay Times, who were at the platform discussion, quotes Garfield as responding. “Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well. I adore it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DinEV8NqKR0?feature=oembed
Continuing, Garfield went on to ask himself the question as to what right he, as a straight cis-gender male, had to play this iconic gay character.
“I had to trust that it was the right thing and Tony [Kushner, writer of Angels in America] had asked me and maybe if he’d asked me, it was the right thing. It was as about doing honour, doing justice and knowing my herstory,” he explained. “The preparation had begun before [rehearsals began] with a lot of my friends. [The play is] as much devoted to my friends in the gay community as it is those that passed during the epidemic.”
In fact, Garfield shared how watching RuPaul’s Drag Race helped him find the character of Prior. “[Watching Drag Race] is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now just without the physical act – that’s all,” he joked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaOtvctkBqE?feature=oembed
Garfield also went on to say that working on Angels in America, while costly both on his body and emotionally, was “the most fulfilling creative experience” that he’d had.
“I don’t think it can get better than this in terms of everything,” he said. “Communion with the audience – us all going through the same things together and how prevalent and how necessary it is to tell this story right now.”
Originally performed in the early ’90s, Angels in America won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony award for Best Play. The two-part drama tells an often metaphorical, allegorical, and symbolic story of homosexuality and the HIV and AIDs crisis in 1980s New York. It was adapted for a mini-series by HBO in 2003, starring Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, and Meryl Streep.
To catch the current iteration of the play, the National Theatre in London will be broadcasting both parts on July 20th and July 27th to cinemas around the world.
The first part, Millennium Approaches, will be broadcast on July 20th, and the second, Perestroika, will air seven days later on July 27th. For information about how you can get tickets, and to find participating cinemas, visit here for Part One and here for Part Two.
