I sort of don’t have words for this new Andrew Garfield interview with Vulture. He’s promoting 99 Homes, the film set in the wake of the real estate crisis circa 2009. It’s supposed to be a pretty dark, political film about socio-economic inequality and how the system is stacked against people living in poverty. Garfield starts the interview by saying, “Why the f–k am I doing this? Coming in today to do interviews, I’m like, Why? I know that I’m an actor and it’s part of the job, and I feel lucky I get to do that, but with the interviews, it’s such a weird thing. What do I have to say?” It gets more angsty from there. You can read the full piece here, which I would recommend because there’s some interesting back-and-forth which doesn’t translate well in these highlights. Highlights:
After Vulture coherently describes the film: “Why don’t you just do this interview? You’re saying the right sh-t….Just attribute what you’re saying to me.”
The gilded prisons: “I do believe that films like this are a part of the slow change that every movement undergoes … and it’s always f–king slow…But I think awareness is being raised all the time. There are so many people now who seem to be onto them, onto [Rupert] Murdoch and [Donald] Trump, and to whoever those folks are who are governing the system that isn’t serving the have-nots. I don’t believe it’s serving the haves either, because they’re in their own gilded prisons. There’s this culture of separation that’s been created, and it makes me feel sick to walk around big cities and to know the struggles of those who are the least served by the system. The only way things do change is if everyone comes together. It takes everyone to lend who they are, and for me, it’s through storytelling and from being able to talk about the powerless feeling that I’m living in and asking the question, “What power do I have? And then how do I act upon that?”
