Andrew Garfield: I don’t believe Donald Trump was ‘born evil’, he learned how to be evil
February 18, 2018
Andrew Garfield covers the latest issue of Out Magazine, although I would completely understand if you didn’t recognize him. It’s not that the image is crazy Photoshopped exactly… it’s just a weird photo where Garfield looks more like Jake Johnson, right? Odd. Anyway, Andrew is still talking about the backlash/criticism he got from saying was “a gay man…without the physical act” because he was doing so much research for his role in Angels In America. Personally, that didn’t offend me as much as what he cited as his research: binge-watching RuPaul’s Drag Race. Garfield covers Out because after a successful run in London, Angels in America is coming (back) to Broadway. You can read the full piece here. Here are some highlights, and yes, Garfield is still explaining the “gay man” comments.
Whether he felt unqualified playing a homosexual man: “Up until this point, I’ve only been sexually attracted to women. My stance toward life, though, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge. I think most people — we’re intrinsically trying to control our experience here, and manage it, and put walls around what we are and who we are. I want to know as much of the garden as possible before I pass — I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time. But, if I were to identify, I would identify as heterosexual, and being someone who identifies that way, and who’s taking on this seminal role, my scariest thought was, Am I allowed to do this?”
On the comment about feeling like a gay man: “I think part of what I was trying to say was about inclusion, and about that openness to my impulses.” (For the record, Garfield thinks Drag Race might be the best show he’s ever seen on television.)
Roy Cohn and Donald Trump: “How do you find compassion and love for the monsters we’re living with? How do you hate the disease and love the diseased? How do you hate the alcoholism and love the alcoholic? Maybe there are certain people who are born evil and are here to do evil deeds. Maybe there are sociopaths and psychopaths who are capable of those things and have no compassion. But in the cases of people like Roy Cohn and Donald Trump, I don’t believe they were born evil. I believe, from my own pseudo-psychological standpoint, that they learned how to be — learned how to survive. Trump somehow manages to survive with ugliness, and at all costs. But what this play is speaking to, down to the final monologue that Tony wrote for Prior, is not fire and brimstone. It’s not ‘we’re going to kill the f–kers’ or ‘we’re gonna cut their heads off.’ It’s incredibly gentle, loving, and compassionate, and it’s confident in the natural propensity of the world and its benevolent forces to win.”
Some days, I just want Andrew Garfield to take a step back and work on a light-hearted romantic comedy. But I suspect that if and when that day comes, he’ll find a way to make that sh-t dark and depressing too. That’s just who he is: dark and serious. It’s not pretend. It’s not “Method.” He’s just a very heavy-hearted guy. It’s why he and Emma Stone sort of worked: she was sunny and he was gloom, and they balanced each other out. As for whether Donald Trump was born a deplorable psycho or whether it’s learned behavior… I don’t know. I’ve never bothered to really think about it before now, and I find that I don’t really give a sh-t. Why should we care enough to wonder about Trump’s nature versus nurture? Can’t we just impeach the bastard and send him to jail?
Cover courtesy of Out Magazine, additional photo courtesy of WENN.
