A conversation between A24 leading men and resident Brits Andrew Garfield and Harris Dickinson, stars of We Live in Time and upcoming Babygirl.
Topics covered include: Harris’s longing to be 40, finding security in insecurity, eternal things, having an allergic response to fame, unsolicited wisdom from Tom Cruise, giving bite-sized chunks of yourself, murky waters, I Heart Huckabees healing a broken heart, wounded bits, embracing scary material, matching Florence’s courage in We Live in Time, soothing the nervous system, avoiding cliché, interrogating performance and desire in Babygirl, Andrew’s memories of shooting the iconic laptop smashing scene in The Social Network with Fincher, Ben Affleck’s actor’s commentary on Armageddon, having trust problems with directors, breaking bones skating and surfing, playing with Tech Decks at home, Harris’s childhood sketch comedy YouTube show, being a chubby boi, basketball as poetry, and Andrew honoring his own grief through We Live in Time.
Andrew Garfield: Hi, I'm Andrew Garfield.
Harris Dickinson: I'm Harris Dickinson.
Andrew Garfield: And this is…
Harris Dickinson: The A24 Podcast.
Andrew Garfield: The A24 Podcast.
Harris Dickinson: Hello.
Andrew Garfield: So the problem is we've already begun talking. So we were talking about surfing, we were talking about age and how wish you– how you've just been longing to be-
Harris Dickinson: 40.
Andrew Garfield: ... 40.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: And then we were talking about press and we were talking about being publicly facing people in some way and the… trickiness of that. And we were talking about jet lag, and we were talking about Los Angeles, not going to disclose exactly where we were talking about in Los Angeles. So then, what do you reckon, what's the most pertinent, pressing topic for you in this moment?
Harris Dickinson: Maybe age, because I'm intrigued to hear from you as well about why you made a face when you disclosed your age. It was a...
Andrew Garfield: For the record, the context of that. I'd asked Harris how old he was and he said 28. And I think in that moment I thought, ah I remember that. I remember 28, as if it was now. And then when you asked me, I was like, I'm not 28 anymore. So I think that's what the face was. And the face was fucking 41.
Harris Dickinson: Oh no, but it's nice, no, because-
Andrew Garfield: Go on because you have an idealization-
Harris Dickinson: I do. And I think I always have because, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you think as you get older there's a sense of security with yourself. And I always feel so… unstable, or maybe it's getting easier now, but like, you know yourself better maybe, right? Is that... Maybe?
Andrew Garfield: You're like, that's why we're here, right? You're going to reassure me that it gets better. Yeah, no. I think so. I think so. I hope so. Yeah, no. Definitely. But it's kind of the more you know the less you know kind of thing. I thought I knew a lot more when I was younger and now I realize how little I know, how little I knew. And as my consciousness expands and cracks open and my heart breaks more and opens up more, I've just realized that how, oh yeah, no, it's not our job to know actually. And I think
there is some weird security in the insecurity. I kind of have had to figure out how to stand still within the uncertainty of life because I think a lot of people say, the world has always been so uncertain and the world has always been so up fucked up. But I do feel like we're in a particularly difficult dark time where-
Harris Dickinson: 100%.
Andrew Garfield: ... where meaning and purpose and community and eternal things, the eternal things that actually are worth pursuing, are far less valued and far less available. And I think about even between when I was your age and now, I think it was probably a lot easier for me as a late 20s person to be in the world.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: And I think now it's even harder in a way I imagine.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah… I mean, I'm not going to sit here and pretend it's really difficult for me. I more just mean navigating your own sense of self, like you say, particularly in our world. Which was one of the other subjects that came up, is public facing, and I don't have to deal with it as much as you, presumably, you know. You've had a wild trajectory and have been in this world a minute longer than me and have probably had to navigate more. So I'm kind of just understanding what it is to do this and to try and hold onto something amongst it all.
Andrew Garfield: Hold onto your sense of deep self, like who you are within a bunch of people and culture and things telling you how to be or pulling you in different directions kind of thing?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. But then I also think about the age thing and I'm like, okay, well each year that goes by I'm understanding even on a very basic level, my own behavior, or my own triggers or my own insecurities or whatever. And in turn, it becomes easier to deal with those and that changes the way you move through the world, I think. And so yeah, there's always been this weird like, oh, I can't wait till I'm 21, can't wait till I'm 30, can't wait till I'm 40, but it's not because I'm wishing away-
Andrew Garfield: Your life, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: ... my life. It's more like a, oh yeah, maybe then I'll be in a really settled place and I'll be chilling.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, I get it. It's like trying to get to a place where you can really smell the roses kind of thing. Enjoy moving and not be consumed by things that you know-
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. And not be in my head and just be really present with that and-
Andrew Garfield: Exactly. And not missing out on.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: So why not just do that now?
Harris Dickinson: I know! I'm working on it, Andrew Garfield. I'm working on it.
Andrew Garfield: No, I know. But it's not easy. It's not easy. When I was 20, I responded to my first brush with being a person that suddenly had a face that people thought they knew. I remember I was talking about this with someone yesterday… I was talking about with Luca, actually, Luca Guadagnino. I saw Luca yesterday because we had just made a film together. And we were talking about how to navigate… Because obviously he works with lots of young actors as well, he's seen lots of different versions of that. I was like, you know what, with all the Spider-Man stuff, I kind of had this allergic response. I was like, I know I'm not ready for this in a way. I know I'm not ready for this level of scrutiny. So I'm going to grow a really horrible beard and I'm going to wear really fucked up clothes and I’m gonna-
Harris Dickinson: You rejected it.
Andrew Garfield: I'm going to chase down paparazzi and try and talk to them.
Harris Dickinson: What's the meaning of life?
Andrew Garfield: I was just like, why are you doing this? Why?
Harris Dickinson: Is that how you responded?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. I was like 26, 27, 28. Because I think I was really scared. I think I was really like, I don't want to lose the thing that matters, which is the self. But it's so hard not to sound like a complete wanker when you talk about these things.
Harris Dickinson: Of course. But from the outside looking in, not to blow smoke, you really do seem like you've managed to evade and retain that sense of self. So kudos to you, man, because it's not easy. I met Tom Cruise recently and he gave me...
Andrew Garfield: What did he say?
Harris Dickinson: He gave me 20 minutes of just like, wisdom. I didn't really ask for it, but I was really grateful for it. But I was really grateful for it because he obviously sensed that I was going through a bit of a… moment of trying to understand a certain way. And Yeah, man. He’s lovely- have you met him?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, first movie I did was with him.
Harris Dickinson: Which one?
Andrew Garfield: It's called Lions For Lambs.
Harris Dickinson: Oh wow.
Andrew Garfield: It was him and Robert Redford.
Harris Dickinson: Your first film was with Tom Cruise?
Andrew Garfield: Him and Robert Redford and Meryl Streep when I was 23.
Harris Dickinson: Wow. Just some up comers.
Andrew Garfield: It's crazy. It was crazy.
Harris Dickinson: That's mad. How old were you?
Andrew Garfield: 23. I really like him. I really enjoyed him. All my scenes were with Redford, but I met Tom on the press tour afterwards. He was just nothing but kind and lovely and funny and... yeah but what was he...
Harris Dickinson: He was talking about press because he was about to do another Mission film or something, and he was talking about the press that they do for that, and the training that he gives to all of his actors. He was just trying to say about retaining a sense of control over certain situations and having fun and being concise with messaging. But also, I'm bad at that. I just want to have a normal… conversation. So I’m like, I'm the worst for it. I'll just go on and on. And I'm like, well, let's just have a real chat! And they're like, we've got five minutes, you better give me some amazing soundbites and be on with your day.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. Exactly. I had a therapist that I had this conversation with, and he was like, here's the thing... Because I absolutely come from the same school of thought as you. I'm just like, well, what are we doing if we're not actually-
Harris Dickinson: Having a real conversation.
Andrew Garfield: Like two human beings and if I can offer something that... I remember being a young person looking at magazine profiles of actors or musicians or artists or whatever, and being so hungry for someone to say something that made me feel seen. And I think about that every time I go and do anything. But I learned the hard way that I'm sure you are learning as well, which is like there's only so much space emotion-wise, consciousness-wise, in the current culture, in like how media is consumed. So if we give our full selves, it's like we can be cannibalized. So I spoke to my therapist about it at the time years ago or whatever, and he was like, you just got to give little bite-sized chunks. Not soundbites, give yourself, but retain yourself simultaneously. It's not welcome. All of your self is not welcome in certain publications. In certain… TMZ are not going to give you a fair fucking shot at trying to do some healing through what you're chatting about. It's just not-
Harris Dickinson: It's not the platform.
Andrew Garfield: It's like going to the hardware store for eggs. It's like, oh, you're not going to find eggs in the hammer aisle. And at the same time, I understand because it's like we want to change these spaces, actually. I think that it's like there's a longing for real conversation, real healing, real vulnerability, real honesty. And when we can actually go there, you can feel the effect. But we'll do this and then some other publication will take a little piece and be like: Andrew Garfield Garfield's losing his mind in therapy. That's the thing. So wait, what did Tom say?
Harris Dickinson: His whole thing is like, look, there's messaging, there's the fun element, and then there's the relaxation of it. And I think that's what I've taken away is the-
Andrew Garfield: Realization of it, what do you mean?
Harris Dickinson: The relaxation of it. Sorry. The stakes feel higher than they actually are, ultimately. We're not saving lives. We are not moving mountains with what we do. It's obviously storytelling and the arts is incredibly important, and culturally it pushes things and changes conversations and inspires and distracts. But we also have to understand what we're doing in comparison to other people's work. But also with him, you know when you work in the studios and stuff in London or in the States or whatever, and so many of the crew speak really highly of him, which I think is always a good sign.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: They love him. Yeah. Wait, so you did that film with him when you were 23? So was that-
Andrew Garfield: I think so. 23, 24, I think. Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: That was your first job?
Andrew Garfield: My first movie.
Harris Dickinson: First movie.
Andrew Garfield: I was doing theater before that.
Harris Dickinson: Right.
Andrew Garfield: I'm going to disagree with you on something.
Harris Dickinson: Go on. I dare you.
Andrew Garfield: Well, what you said about... I agree with you but I also-
Harris Dickinson: We're not saving lives?
Andrew Garfield: Well, yeah. I mean, yeah. I think about the amount of times my life has been saved by a piece of music or by a play or by-
Harris Dickinson: Really?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, dude. Of course. Like just as much as… my brother's a lung doctor at a hospital in London, and-
Harris Dickinson: That's not...
Andrew Garfield: What we're doing right now and what he's doing right now.
Harris Dickinson: It’s, it’s… arguably is... Now we're in murky water, Andrew.
Andrew Garfield: That's where we want to be.
Harris Dickinson: That's where we want to be, swimming around in the dirt.
Andrew Garfield: But me and him talk about this a lot. Look at what happens when a government cuts arts funding. The culture gets sick. It gets even sicker than it already is. And I mean that sick, like soul sick. Of course we don't literally physically save lives. But I've definitely had dark times in my life, especially when I was a teenager or early 20s or whatever and I remember going through my breakup, my first really big heartbreak, and I went and saw David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees.
Harris Dickinson: I've never seen that.
Andrew Garfield: Okay, well-
Harris Dickinson: I've never seen it. Yeah. I’ll get…
Andrew Garfield: But it's one of those films that you wouldn't expect was going to stitch up a broken heart. And at the same time, I'm with you.
Harris Dickinson: What about it made you...
Andrew Garfield: The film?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. What was it that, or just as an experience, why did it-
Andrew Garfield: I want you to see it. I want you to watch the film because it's so existential. It's philosophical. It's very funny. It's absurd. It made me realize that I was being an indulgent fuck basically, and that everyone goes through the same experience. It was a collective kind of, it was like tying me to something universal, which is heartbreak is what, the cost of being alive. It's one of the costs. I'm going to talk about Babygirl. Is that all right?
Harris Dickinson: Oh, sure. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Sorry. It came out of nowhere. So we haven't talked about it. I absolutely love it, and I love you in it. Genuinely.
Harris Dickinson: Thank you, man.
Andrew Garfield: I think you're so fucking brilliant and you're doing something that's really quite mysterious, really sensitive, and nuanced. How do you feel about compliments? How do you…
Harris Dickinson: I'm not very good at them. But is anyone? Maybe some people are greater than...
Andrew Garfield: Some people might be.
Harris Dickinson: Are you?
Andrew Garfield: It depends. It depends.
Harris Dickinson: We'll get there.
Andrew Garfield: I’m working on that. Just absorbing.
Harris Dickinson: Do you know what, I think if I trust and respect the person's opinion then I can really absorb it and be grateful for it. But if it's just like, oh, you're amazing.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, no. If it's sycophantic. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: That kind of thing it's like, ugh. But thank you. That's really kind.
Andrew Garfield: No, man. It's really properly beautiful, tender, vulnerable, powerful, funny work. And I watched that film and I'm like, this is an important film. It feels like an important film to me. It feels like a film about liberation.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, totally.
Andrew Garfield: A film about self ownership. A film about the integration of the parts of us that we've shamed or have been shamed by the culture. And, it feels like an exploration of what it is to be a human being, an exploration of love, an exploration of lust, of sexuality. And it feels like it's kind of shedding light on certain parts of our psyches and our consciousness that if those parts are kept in the shadows, they will become something quite dangerous. So there is healing in it. I do think it's kind of life-saving work.
You're probably, like you are blowing smoke now and fuck you. But I do feel that way. Of course, in the conversation about it I'm sure you get to have a lot of fun by keeping it light, I imagine.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I guess on the surface it could look anything other than deep and profound, like all the things you say. But I believe those things too. I think Halina has done such a beautiful job with it and it is about liberation, like you say, and it is so much about what happens if you don't allow yourself to be liberated properly. And it's like essentially two people finding solace in their own sort of insecurity as well, and figuring out how to...
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, wounded bits.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, wounded bits and how to play with that and how to get through that together. It's scary doing that kind of material, man, don't you think?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah dude. No, I was watching it. I was like, that's real. When you said that, it made me think about how some of my favorite moments were, I think you even say it at one point too, it's like, no, we're two kids playing.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: It like, oh fuck man. You guys trying not to laugh at the beginning of entering the playpen and it is like two kids playing and it's like two kids going down into their own woundedness and trying to figure
out making it beautiful, making it okay or it's taking the shame and turning it into something that is actually allowed and healing through that.
Harris Dickinson: Which also allowed me to show the embarrassment of performance as well. Because it's about performance, in a way. It's about performative sex. It's about performative role play. It's about desire and how we succumb to someone else's desire and wishes and all of that. And so there's parts of it where he's embarrassed and so am I. And that is helpful because you can live in your embarrassment. It's embarrassing to act in front of people. It’s embarrassing to-
Andrew Garfield: It's awful.
Harris Dickinson: It's awful.
Andrew Garfield: This is embarrassing right now!
Harris Dickinson: It's embarrassing, but then imagine adding a fake circumstance onto it and a pretended person. It's a whole other thing. I'll put it back onto you because I want to talk about your film as well, which broke me and my partner when we watched it. It was really moving and you and Florence have just done such beautiful work in that and it blew us away, honestly. So much of that was about vulnerability and about tragedy, but also levity and I don't know how you managed to navigate the dance between the two, but you did it so well. Maybe that was your director too, but you guys really... Because it's hard with a film that starts out already knowing the sort of end drama, I guess, or the end result. You guys managed to really weave in this beautiful playfulness as well-
Andrew Garfield: Thanks, man.
Harris Dickinson: ... and a genuine love and genuine fun with each other despite the darkness. How did you do that and do you find that embarrassing to be so vulnerable?
Andrew Garfield: Same as you. One of us will answer a question at some point, but I felt the same with you and Nicole. The love was so palpable between you both. When she's like, "You're mine, you're mine. I don't want you to be with anyone else but me." It was so full of desire and I don't know, and genuine love. And at the end, when you're with Antonio Banderas and you're just kind of head to head, like when you were in the club with whatever the guy was, you were dancing in that nightclub scene and it was so many wonderful... Anyway, I will answer. I'll try and answer your question. I don't know. I feel like I read it and I was like, it's really well written, and now it's dependent on if the two people in it get along really and if they want to work in a similar way and if they can match each other's courage. I knew Florence was really talented. Do you know Florence?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, but you hadn't worked with her? Just met her?
Andrew Garfield: No and I hadn't met her either.
Harris Dickinson: Oh, you hadn't met her. Wow.
Andrew Garfield: I'd just seen her work. I'd just seen Lady MacBeth, Midsommar and Little Women and all the rest. And I thought, she's brilliant, but you just don't know, then we had a Zoom call and that was that.
Then we just discovered that we did want the same things. We wanted to travel as deeply as possible and we wanted to have as much fun as possible. She's very confident in her own skin in a lot of ways and very, I don't know. In her body, in her feeling in her, but this would've been the same with any actor I was working with. My only intention was create a space where she feels really safe and I hope that she helps create a space. Well, I would've created a space for myself to feel safe first and foremost. I can't depend on anyone else doing that. I'm sure you've been on jobs where you don't feel safe to offer your full self.
Harris Dickinson: 100%.
Andrew Garfield: Then you've got to figure out a way of still delivering and soothing the nervous system enough to be able to go-
Harris Dickinson: Soothing the nervous system. I like that. It really is. Even if you try and be "fine" or act normal, there's something scientific going on.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, it's like pre-verbal. It's some pre-verbal biological response or maybe even epigenetic. Who the fuck knows.
Harris Dickinson: If you're uncomfortable or stressed or…
Andrew Garfield: Whatever and I think a director and fellow actors and whoever is running the show, you want to create an environment where everyone has the potential to feel really safe and everyone has the potential there and to play really like kids. I don't know. For me, I think one of the reasons why I love doing what we do is it's a kind of opportunity to go back into that very pure space and offer something very creatively pure from that purity of playing as children, really. Again, it's what is so evident in what you and Nicole created and what your director created as well. Yeah. That was the intention with- and I knew I was the slightly senior member of that cast and I was like, okay I've got to...
Harris Dickinson: Back to being 41.
Andrew Garfield: Back to being 41. 41 years old.
Harris Dickinson: 41 years old.
Andrew Garfield: Never forget. I knew I needed to set the tone with that and Florence just met me there. And the humor I think came, the writing was just really really good and I think British people are pretty good at gallows humor and we're just good at undercutting the seriousness of life and the kind of torture of life. And John as well. He is an Irish, kind of poetic soul, the art director, so he was always trying to find the little line of gold in the crack of the heartache of a moment or anything like that.
Harris Dickinson: Had you played a dad before? Had you done that?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, I had. I played a young dad in a film called 99 Homes.
Harris Dickinson: Oh yeah, of course.
Andrew Garfield: With Ramin Bahrani
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, of course.
Andrew Garfield: But yeah, a very young dad, so this felt quite different.
Harris Dickinson: That scene where you're trying to, I won't spoil it, but when you're trying to talk to her about certain issues and then you just snap at the waiter. It's like, go away. Piss off. Just piss off. Yeah, I can't even imagine that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. But I was going to ask you the same thing about how you and Nicole created and your director created the places you guys have to go to are even more vulnerable in a way, more kind of taboo, and naked, and yeah.
Harris Dickinson: I think we just had a good energy together, a good bond. I think we got along very well. I think we felt comfortable in each other's presence and that happened early on. We had a really good intimacy coordinator, Lizzie Talbot, who I worked with before, and Helena as well. Helena comes from a theater background and really, really playful. Wanted to mess up the order of things a little bit. And I think Nicole led that as well. She is incredibly brave as a performer, and, unashamed to just go anywhere. That really, once someone allows other people to see that, or sets the tone of that, then I think the rest of it was super easy. I think the main thing was trying not to be cliche, in a genre that has been done in many different ways.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, for you, within that character, you mean?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, for me, but also the material. Helena obviously had her writing in place, and the script was beautiful and nuanced, but you still have a common understanding or short circuit to how some things should be done or said and you have to constantly think about what it is to break those things because even if you’re thinking differently or exploring new terrain, you still have the archetypical landscape in your mind, I feel or I do, at least. Even from everything we've been taught about sex and domination and relationship. So I think it was just that and talking about it and trying to navigate that in a way that felt new, but yeah, I find that stuff really, really vulnerable. Like tapping into something genuine and loving, I find really, I get really anxious about it. I come away from it feeling almost like a panic attack level of like-
Andrew Garfield: You mean revealing that on camera or just in life?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Just in life- just on camera, sorry. Just in scenes.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, interesting.
Harris Dickinson: I'm a very open book in real life. I'm very loving and I think I allow myself to be loved, whatever, but in scenes with sex and vulnerability, and… I don't know why. It just gets me, man. I'm like, it's difficult. It's difficult. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, that's so interesting.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. I don't know what it is. I don't know what it is.
Andrew Garfield: If you're cool with it in life, then it's like, maybe you're just like, I don't want to sell this.
Harris Dickinson: I don't want to sell this, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Right, right, right. Well that sounds kind of healthy.
Harris Dickinson: That is kind of healthy. Yeah. Amazing.
Andrew Garfield: That doesn't sound terrible.
Harris Dickinson: Wait. We met at a screening of Finch's last movie.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, that's right, yeah yeah yeah.
Harris Dickinson: Were you doing the film then, because you were with Florence.
Andrew Garfield: I forget. I think we had just finished.
Harris Dickinson: You just finished?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, we had just finished. Yeah. Yeah. Harris Dickinson: You stay in touch with him then, obviously.
Andrew Garfield: David?
Harris Dickinson: Yep.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. Yeah, I love him.
Harris Dickinson: That film you guys did was- is such a monumental sort of moment in cinema. I've watched it so many times and that, I mean, I'm sure you get asked about this all the time, but that clip of the scene of you smashing and the keyboard. It's just the most incredible monologue.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah… yeah. It's great.
Harris Dickinson: It's so good. How many times did you do that?
Andrew Garfield: I remember me and Jesse watching the premiere. I think we were… I forget. I think we were in New York, the New York Film Festival. I was like 26, I think and we were both just looking at each other. It's bad, right? It's bad. We were like, this is a bad movie and we're bad in it, right? We were both like, yeah, yeah, it's bad. We're bad. It's bad, it's terrible. Everyone was like-
Harris Dickinson: Out of like reassurance. You were trying to be reassured.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, we were just trying to get there before anyone else got there, so we had no concept that it was going to be a film that people would reference.
Harris Dickinson: But he'd made great films before?
Andrew Garfield: David?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah?
Andrew Garfield: Oh yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was more just like us.
Harris Dickinson: Oh, we are bad.
Andrew Garfield: We ruined it.
Harris Dickinson: Okay. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: We just couldn't see past our own… bullshit, really. Yeah. We came to it, honestly, but yeah, making it was fucking great. We had so much fun. Yeah. It was just, yeah, it was bliss.
Harris Dickinson: I've watched all of the making of.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, really?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. All of it. I love making ofs.
Andrew Garfield: Me too. They don't really do that anymore. And they don't have director's commentary. I think there's like a director's and actor's commentary as well.
Harris Dickinson: You can sometimes find it on the Blu-rays. I feel like you can get the Blu-ray ones.
Andrew Garfield: On like actual media, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: You should push to do it on-
Andrew Garfield: Everything, yeah. I especially love directors and actors com- like Ben Affleck doing actors commentary on, what was the film he did? Was it Armageddon or something? He was absolutely hilarious. Was it Armageddon or something? I forget what it was. It was a Michael Bay film, and he's just absolutely savaging the thing.
Harris Dickinson: The one he acted in?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. He's like undercutting all of the logic of-
Harris Dickinson: Really? Oh, I like that.
Andrew Garfield: Was it Armageddon? I think it was. Yeah, I think it was Armageddon, but it's so fucking funny. He's like, "Yeah, we need miners to go to space and yeah, only miners can figure out how to fucking figure this out." Whatever it was.
Harris Dickinson: That's great.
Andrew Garfield: It is really, really funny. So yeah, bring back directors and actors commentary, is the vote.
Harris Dickinson: Scorsese’s done a lot, hasn't he? He always commentaries his-
Andrew Garfield: Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: I forgot you worked with him as well. What a man. Wow.
Andrew Garfield: With David on that day we shot, I forget the amount of takes we did on that particular setup, but he was very cool. He started on my coverage.
Harris Dickinson: Really?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. He was like, "Andrew's going to get tired, so he's going to lose his voice and blah, blah, blah." We didn't know how the scene was going to be played. He was very open. He would get very particular with certain things and certain scenes, but the only scene he got that way with me was in the scene that's intercut with where me and Jesse are in our litigation across the table, when they're asking you, how much were your shares diluted? How much were theirs blah, blah, blah. He was like, "I don't want you to blink and I just want you to stay really still and I just want you to stare Jesse in the eye and just be completely fucking piercing. I want no acting. I want no nothing. I just want you to be fucking simple and there. Be very, very still." Otherwise he would let me freeform a bit and that he was just waiting to see how I wanted to play it- Oh no. I tell a lie. I had on the walk up from realizing what happened to looking outside and seeing him and walking. He was like, "I have a track set up." I was like, but I might want to stop here and stop there. He’s like, “no, no, no. You're not stopping. You're just on the fucking move."
Harris Dickinson: Okay.
Andrew Garfield: “The freight train has left the station.” I'm like, okay, I'm going to trust that. He was like, the track is, I promise you this shot is going to be...
Harris Dickinson: The track is it.
Andrew Garfield: Don't fuck with the track.
Harris Dickinson: I love it. Yeah. Yeah. Actually, I thought it would go here...
Andrew Garfield: Oh yeah, you want me to build a track that goes like a figure eight around... No. The track is- and also trust me, like I'm taking care of you. It's going to take you like a fucking spear. You a fucking spear right now. Even when Justin says he's wired in, I wanted to be like, I'm sorry? In rehearsals I would be like, huh, what's that? David was like, "No. You don't stop. You don't stop. You don't even look at him. You’re getting to that fucking laptop and you're going to destroy that fucking laptop. That's it. That's what you can think about." It was just like, a director like that where you go, where you get to surrender.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: It's the best, right?
Harris Dickinson: I'll trust all. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Well, it is a little bit like that dom / sub kind of dynamic. It's like, I think at best working with a director where you can just completely give yourself over.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. It's the dream.
Andrew Garfield: Access your power, access your vulnerability and know that you are somehow protected, but it felt like you guys must have had to have that on this film.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm always a little ... I have trust problems with directors, I'll say that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: I don't mind saying that. And me and Helena have spoken about it a lot since. And it's normally just to do with what you say, are you going to take care of me? Am I in good hands with you?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, exactly.
Harris Dickinson: Because the worst fear is your thing running away from you, I'm probably a bit of a control freak in that way.
Andrew Garfield: I'm the same.
Harris Dickinson: So it's taken a while to understand how to do that. But yeah, Helena's an actor as well, she was part of Ivo van Hove's theater company for years.
Andrew Garfield: Shit, right, of course, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: I think that changed it, and that gave a different dynamic. But yeah, sometimes it's not there even with actors, sometimes you do something and you don't feel safety and you're like, oh God, what's going to happen?
Andrew Garfield: No, of course. It's awful.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, it's really, really awful. And it's like there's no worse feeling. It's like you really do feel like you're naked in a way that is not safe and not being held and protected. How did you feel with Ruben on Triangle of Sadness?
Harris Dickinson: Ruben's the same. I think Ruben knows exactly what he wants, and that’s similar to maybe what it sounds like with David Fincher. But he does a lot of takes and he has a really strong idea of how things should go, but he's really open. And I think when you love someone's work that much, and you've seen them prove it over and over and over, you can just surrender to it, I think. And that's so much easier when you can step into an environment and it's predetermined in a way, as long as you show up and you
do your work and you allow yourself to be directed in the right way, then hopefully it all goes to plan. But I really liked doing a lot of takes, I don't know how you felt about that?
Andrew Garfield: Me too, I loved it.
Harris Dickinson: I love it. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: I did. I really, really loved it. I think particularly with someone like Ruben or David, you're like, okay, there's method to this madness. It's not just like, you don't know what the fuck you're doing.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: I remember we were shooting, there's a scene where I arrive in Palo Alto covered in rain, and Justin Timberlake's in the house, or Sean Parker is in the house that I'm renting for Mark. And I'm like, "What the fuck is going on? They forgot to pick me up from the airport. This is fucked." It was a big confrontation scene between me and Justin.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: And we shot it over the course of a couple of days. And I remember on my coverage, we got to take 19 or 20, something like that. And I remember just taking a little break and walking around the outside of the set. And I overheard David say to his videographer guy, who was dealing with all the digital takes or whatever, he was like, "Okay, first print, take 19, please delete takes one through 18."
Harris Dickinson: What?
Andrew Garfield: Literally. I was like-
Harris Dickinson: Delete!?
Andrew Garfield: ... "There's got to be something. There's got to be something that's watchable within takes one to 18." It was brutal. It was like-
Harris Dickinson: Delete?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, delete, gone, dead.
Harris Dickinson: What? No, no, surely that was performative.
Andrew Garfield: No, I don't think so!
Harris Dickinson: Surely not.
Andrew Garfield: Maybe he is that smart where he was just probably trying to fuck with me. But I don't think so.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man.
Andrew Garfield: I don't think so. I think he just legit knows what feels right to him. He knows. It's like, "Oh no, everything in that take was better than the previous ones. I'm just gonna just whatever."
Harris Dickinson: So, more often than not, you found that the later takes were the ones he used or you don't know?
Andrew Garfield: I don't know, I'm not sure. But I just ... I don't know. Nothing better than going home and being like, well, at least I'm not worrying about having done the scene in a different way or whatever.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I put everything on the table. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Exactly. Left it all on the field.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: And the same with the smashing of the laptop. I think we did 20, 25 takes of that.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man. Man.
Andrew Garfield: But my God, what bliss.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: It's just like... And the writing is, it's the best.
Harris Dickinson: A lot of people would get tired on... there was some actors, I won't say who, but they got tired of it. And I was like charged by it, I was like...
Andrew Garfield: Well, we were young, you were young when you did it, I was your age when I was doing it. And it was like... all of us on Social Network, we were all just these young kids who were just eager to please and eager to play and work on a script that was legit brilliant. I think about Triangle of Sadness, I think about the opening of that, and how it feels like three different films. I love that film so much. It's one of my favorite films of the last 10 years I think.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man.
Andrew Garfield: It really is. And I think weirdly, particularly my favorite part is your relationship with your partner.
Harris Dickinson: Yaya or Abigail?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. At the beginning.
Harris Dickinson: At the beginning, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. And how it felt too real. It felt like the conversation about the check at dinner at the beginning, it was too fucking real... it was just like... And seeing you processing going, "Oh no, you're
gaslighting me. You know exactly what you're doing and now I'm doubting that you did the thing that I think I'm pretty sure you did. You're making me go mad. Am I mad? Or are you making me mad? And I'm also revealed as cheap and, yeah, I don't make as much fucking money as you. But also it's like, shame on top of shame on top of rage on top of shame on top of rage on top just wanting honesty and truth and just like, can we just be together?” It was so well studied. And you stopping the elevator. It just felt like I'd had that conversation multiple times in multiple relationships.
Harris Dickinson: I mean, so many people have said that, so many people have said it.
Andrew Garfield: It's so fucking good, man. It's so good. It's too real.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Have you met Ruben, did you meet him?
Andrew Garfield: No, I haven't, I haven't, no.
Harris Dickinson: He is really fun- he used to make ski videos.
Andrew Garfield: Oh?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. And I come from skateboarding a little bit, so I understand the level of doing it and doing it and doing it until you get the trick.
Andrew Garfield: Me too, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you still skate?
Harris Dickinson: No, I stopped a couple of years ago.
Andrew Garfield: Good. It's probably for the best, mate.
Harris Dickinson: Mate, I was breaking bones.
Andrew Garfield: It's the right time.
Harris Dickinson: It was like-
Andrew Garfield: What have you broken?
Harris Dickinson: Wrists, ankle, dislocated things. I just- It was stupid.
Andrew Garfield: I broke my left wrist when I was 15.
Harris Dickinson: Did you?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. That's why I started surfing. So you surf as well?
Harris Dickinson: I surf now, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Have you broken anything surfing yet?
Harris Dickinson: My toe, my toe.
Andrew Garfield: Okay. That's the worst actually.
Harris Dickinson: But it's because I was like Malibu, man, Malibu First Point, mental.
Andrew Garfield: It's like a car park.
Harris Dickinson: Longboarders and paddle boarders.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, no, paddle boarders. Insane. I broke two ribs last year surfing.
Harris Dickinson: What, surfing?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, that was my first.
Harris Dickinson: See, it's not any safer really.
Andrew Garfield: It is a bit safer, water is a little softer, but the reef and the-
Harris Dickinson: Other people.
Andrew Garfield: Other people, yeah. How long have you been surfing for?
Harris Dickinson: I did it a little bit when I was younger in Cornwall.
Andrew Garfield: Oh cool.
Harris Dickinson: That was where I learned. And then-
Andrew Garfield: Longboarding or… soft top?
Harris Dickinson: Just soft top. And then I got my own one. And then I started going to America for work and stuff and doing it there a bit. And then a friend of mine moved to Cornwall and I just used to go and visit him whenever I was off and try and get some time in.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, that's perfect.
Harris Dickinson: And now I try and semi-build my holidays around it.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, me too.
Harris Dickinson: If my girlfriend will let me, but she-
Andrew Garfield: It's the perpetual surfer's struggle.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, because it's like-
Andrew Garfield: The addiction.
Harris Dickinson: It's an addiction.
Andrew Garfield: It's an addiction.
Harris Dickinson: It's an addiction. Yeah. I haven't surfed in so long though.
Andrew Garfield: I was literally just in Los Angeles for press for this. And there was a ... well, awfulness of the hurricane in America right now. But there was a swell from the hurricane that came to LA. And it was three days - because the summer has been really flat in LA - And there was three days that happened to coincide with me being there. And it was beautiful, amazing waves every day, south swell. And it was perfect. It was perfect. Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: Really? Nice, fun size or intimidating?
Andrew Garfield: Head height, so fun and a little bit on the edge for me because I had-
Harris Dickinson: Three to five or something, four, six, something there?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, three, four, five. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: Okay. Anything beyond that I'm… getting scared of.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, no, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Harris Dickinson: I went to the Philippines and they were fun but scary. I'm like, I'll get scared, I'm not ...
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, no, I need people out... again, I need a director out there.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We just need to be held.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. I need Fincher out there with me just being like, "The track is set, I've got you, just go in."
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: But also, I don't want to break any more bones really, I'd rather not.
Harris Dickinson: Why did you start surfing or how did you start?
Andrew Garfield: Because of skating.
Harris Dickinson: Because of skating.
Andrew Garfield: Because I stopped skating. Yeah. Did you used to skate in the South Bank?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Did you ever do anything down that set of seven?
Harris Dickinson: That was my first seven set. That was my first seven set. Did you, was that your…?
Andrew Garfield: I kick flipped it once.
Harris Dickinson: Did you?
Andrew Garfield: That was my biggest moment when I was 16, 15 or something.
Harris Dickinson: Swear down, that's amazing.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, those were the days. Those were the best days. Me and my friends were from a little town in Surrey. And we would have to tell our parents we're just going to go to Guildford or we're just going to go to Kingston.
Harris Dickinson: Why, they didn't want you to go to London, you were too young?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, I don't know. Well, my dad didn't want me to go to London because he was just a fear mongerer. He was just like, "You're going to get murdered in London."
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're going to join a gang.
Andrew Garfield: And also I work- you're going to join a gang and you're going to die from a heroin overdose if you go up there today.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: It's just inevitable.
Harris Dickinson: Especially skateboarding.
Andrew Garfield: Skaters.
Harris Dickinson: You see that skateboarder, he knows what's coming. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck, man.
Andrew Garfield: And he used to work in London, so he was like, "I'll see you, if you sneak up, I'll see you." And I'm like, "Fuck, my dad's going to see me if I go to London." I didn't realize that London wasn't just a high street. There was one high street... "Fuck, guys, I can't go because my dad works there, so I just can't go."
Harris Dickinson: Really? Oh, he put the fear in you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Oh yeah, he was good at that. But it gave me a lot to wriggle out of as well. And the same with-
Harris Dickinson: But you did used to go?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: You used to sneak in.
Andrew Garfield: Of course, man, I'm not fucking... Do you know what I mean?
Harris Dickinson: I know, I got no square. I do what I want.
Andrew Garfield: But it's the same... I do what I want. Terrified. But also with surfing, because I used to be a swimmer, my dad's a swimming coach.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Oh really?
Andrew Garfield: So I grew up swimming, which-
Harris Dickinson: Was he your swimming coach?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. It was awful. It was awful.
Harris Dickinson: That's intense, man.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. It was really intense, dude, it was brutal. So I stopped swimming.
Harris Dickinson: No wonder you're an actor.
Andrew Garfield: My brother's a doctor. I'm fucked, man. It's like... Do you have any siblings?
Harris Dickinson: I do. I'm one of four. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Oh wow. Where are you, are you like second youngest?
Harris Dickinson: I'm the youngest, I'm the youngest, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: You're the youngest, okay.
Harris Dickinson: But carry on, carry on.
Andrew Garfield: But anyway, I think swimming turned into surfing. I just wanted to make whatever that skillset was pleasurable, because it wasn't pleasurable when I was just a swimmer. I was like-
Harris Dickinson: Of course. Did you do it in the UK or did you-
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, yeah. I was raised here.
Harris Dickinson: And then London must've felt like a pretty... I mean, you obviously grew up coming here, but in that sense, was it like, oh, we're going down to London, was there an element of...
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, when I was 17-
Harris Dickinson: Because I had that, I was in the suburbs. So I still had an element of, oh, I'm going into the big thing that's like got it all, and I can have it all. There's an element of that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. I moved up when I was 17 to study acting at Central School of Speech and Drama in Swiss Cottage, northwest London. Before then I was just kinda stuck at school and I was just like, I don't really know why I'm alive actually. I was like, once I stopped skating and once all my mates started going to the pub, because they looked five years older than me, and I was like-
Harris Dickinson: Oh, you looked young too?
Andrew Garfield: I looked young and I was like-
Harris Dickinson: Me too.
Andrew Garfield: I was just at home finger boarding.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, tech decks.
Andrew Garfield: I was just tech decking.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man, fuck.
Andrew Garfield: And I couldn't get into the pub. I couldn't get a fake ID that worked because I just looked like some kind of amoeba. I was just like a little, what, a single cell organism. I just looked like a child.
Harris Dickinson: An amoeba.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. So to be honest, acting did kind of save me in a way. Art did and acting did. And then it got me out of a rut that I could have been in I think when I was a kid. Because it was a bit like The Truman Show when it's like, "I know there's something else, but I have no idea what it is." And there's probably a door in this sky, I just don't know how to access it. But I knew that if I didn't access it, I was going to be in trouble with myself.
Harris Dickinson: You see that with people that, or even myself when you're looking, how important it is to be a part of a tribe, where you're looking for your tribe.
Andrew Garfield: For sure.
Harris Dickinson: And as a kid or kids should explore so many different things, that's like-
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. But for you it was skating and then ...
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I probably thought I was going to be a pro skateboarder at one point. I was nowhere near good enough. But it was like, that's it, that's what's on the horizons. Get sponsored, make enough
sponsor me videos, whack them on YouTube, and maybe Monster or Red Bull might give me a sponsorship.
Andrew Garfield: Just doing a pop shove it.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, pop shove it.
Andrew Garfield: Fakie pop shove it.
Harris Dickinson: I think that it was a very important hobby because it-
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. Community.
Harris Dickinson: Community.
Andrew Garfield: And creativity. Harris Dickinson: Yeah. So creative.
Andrew Garfield: Freedom.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And again, it forced me to get out of my own little microcosm and explore the London that I ultimately am now in tune with a little bit. And the side of the things that interested me. Because I think it was... it's provincial where I grew up, so it's like suburbs, east London. So it does feel a little bit like its own little bubble and skateboarding helped me get out of that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, for sure. Yeah. But when did acting come around for you?
Harris Dickinson: I was doing it at school-
Andrew Garfield: Just for fun?
Harris Dickinson: Just for fun. And then-
Andrew Garfield: Was there any part of you that was like, I love this and I want to pursue it or was it just...
Harris Dickinson: No, not really.
Andrew Garfield: Meet chicks.
Harris Dickinson: I was making videos a lot. I had this web series, like a sketch show that I was doing.
Andrew Garfield: Oh really?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. That was like my- what I thought I was going to do, maybe.
Andrew Garfield: Oh that's cool.
Harris Dickinson: And then I was-
Andrew Garfield: You and mates?
Harris Dickinson: Me and mates, but it was my thing that I would put together and I'd rope other people into it.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, that's awesome. When you were how old?
Harris Dickinson: I probably started doing it when I was 11 or 12.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, that's sick!
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I was young and they were really-
Andrew Garfield: You had the calling, you had early like... What kind of videos? Can we see these?
Harris Dickinson: No, I stupidly deleted them all. Probably for the best.
Andrew Garfield: Maybe not so stupid.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. For the best. But we started out doing Ray Mears, Bear Grylls spoofs in the forest. And then we started doing Harry Potter spoofs. And then we would do like a weekly skits and put them on YouTube.
Andrew Garfield: Sick.
Harris Dickinson: And there was four people at school that watched them. They'd be like, "Have you got them up this week?" And I'd be like, "Yeah, they're coming, man, they're coming."
Andrew Garfield: Ease off, ease off. You can't pressure-
Harris Dickinson: Ease off. Relax, man. Come on. And then I think I started acting a little bit later. Because I never put myself in them. I was like, "Oh, I just need to be behind."
Andrew Garfield: No, man, I want to be behind. Yeah, no.
Harris Dickinson: This is it, man. I just want to be on the camera. And then I did a few plays and I did, do you know National Connections?
Andrew Garfield: What plays? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Harris Dickinson: I did-
Andrew Garfield: Oh so cool. We got some connections here.
Harris Dickinson: Did you do that as well?
Andrew Garfield: There was a series of- one of the first plays I did was a trilogy of plays, came out of the Connections, and it was-
Harris Dickinson: Amazing.
Andrew Garfield: At the National, at the Cottesloe Theatre which is now the…
Harris Dickinson: The Shed?
Andrew Garfield: No, the smaller of the three theaters. There's Littleton Olivier, and then there’s the… it used to be the Cottesloe. It doesn't matter, but yeah, Connections. Yeah, it was like three- one was Enda Walsh and another one was Mark Ravenhill, but anyway, okay, cool.
Harris Dickinson: I did that and then I think after that I probably got the bug a little bit.
Andrew Garfield: How did you get to the Connections though? How did that happen?
Harris Dickinson: Well I went to- there was a local theater school in Walthamstow called Raw Academy. They were a really affordable theater school run by actors. That kind of changed my perspective on it.
Andrew Garfield: Amazing.
Harris Dickinson: That changed my opinion of it, and all of a sudden there was an access to the world and I understood that there could be a path there. And… I almost joined the military and my acting teacher was like, "Why are you doing that?"
Andrew Garfield: Why were you thinking doing that?
Harris Dickinson: Because I was in the Marine Cadets for years. I don't know why, really. I just, again, trying to find tribes, trying to find community and ...
Andrew Garfield: Purpose.
Harris Dickinson: ...Yeah, structure, all of that.
Andrew Garfield: Something bigger.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. I was quite chubby, so I was like, "I need to lose some weight." I need to go and do something that's gonna like get me trim because I'm fed up of being a chubby boy.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, #chubbyboy is going to be...
Harris Dickinson: #Chubbyboy.
Andrew Garfield: ...Trending after this, B-O-I, I think, chubby boi.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, and then that happened and now I'm so grateful that I got steered into this because I love it. Yeah. Did you always want to do it? What was your-
Andrew Garfield: No. Kind of similar, man. I was lost. I was lost when I was a teen. I was just like, what we were talking about earlier, older sibling that was just this very high achieving head boy of the school, captain of all these whatever, doctor in the making. Then I was like, "Ah, what use am I here?" a little bit. I was like, "I don't want to do the things that I'm being told I want to do." I did want to just skate and I did want to just kind of fuck around really. I was an idiot, in a way that now has paid off, but at the time it wasn't really valued and I understand why, but yeah, I just kind of got lost and I was like, I don't know what exists that could work. It was my mother that really just kind of was like, "Well, what about something creative?"
Harris Dickinson: It's so nice.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, it was great.
Harris Dickinson: So great.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, it was amazing. So I tried art, music and I liked all of those things, but it didn't feel just probably wasn't good enough at them, to be honest. I wanted to be an athlete. I wanted to play basketball or to be a skateboarder, but like you, those dreams kind of had to perish. Then, yeah, I-
Harris Dickinson: Basketball player, man. Hard to imagine that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, that would be, can you imagine?
Harris Dickinson: Me and you…
Andrew Garfield: Do you hoop?
Harris Dickinson: Me and you, man.
Andrew Garfield: Do you play?
Harris Dickinson: We could have been something.
Andrew Garfield: Do you actually play basketball?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I like basketball.
Andrew Garfield: I always look for people to play with in London.
Harris Dickinson: Let's do it.
Andrew Garfield: Finsbury Park.
Harris Dickinson: I love that.
Andrew Garfield: As far away from Finsbury Park.
Harris Dickinson: Finsbury Park. No, that's where I go!
Andrew Garfield: Is that where you go?
Harris Dickinson: Well, sometimes I've got a mate who plays there with me sometimes.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. They've got good pickup games there.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I'm rubbish, but I love it.
Andrew Garfield: I love it too. I’m not- I'm by no means good. I just really enjoy it. Just in the same way I like surfing. There are two things that, and tennis, there are two or three things where I'm just like, these are just for me and I don't have to put any pressure on them. They're just like, pleasure.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, and watching basketball for the first time was like, whoa. Being at a game was like, oh man, this is mental.
Andrew Garfield: No, it's the best. The best. It's balletic. It's like poetry. And that Michael Jordan documentary got so many other people into it.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah yeah.
Andrew Garfield: I've seen that film five times. I’m just crazy about that. Hoop Dreams is such a- one of my favorite movies. Have you seen Hoop Dreams?
Harris Dickinson: I haven't seen that.
Andrew Garfield: It's like a Criterion Collection documentary about young high school students who- it follows a few different high school kids in America who are like, it's like from the eighties and the nineties, who are college prospects, or NBA prospects. It's about following all their different stories and it's so beautiful. It's stunning. I think you'll dig it. You'll definitely dig it.
Harris Dickinson: What's it called?
Andrew Garfield: Hoop Dreams.
Harris Dickinson: Hoop Dreams. I just watched the, is it Steph Curry?
Andrew Garfield: Oh I haven't seen his documentary.
Harris Dickinson: That's good, but thank God that your mom supported that because so many people don't-
Andrew Garfield: Well, also, I was thinking about RAW, the outside of, thank God for those fucking programs, honestly. Thank God there was something nearby. The Epsom Playhouse for me. There was a workshop outside of school when I was 15 that I was just like, "Oh, I really like this. Actually, this feels really good."
And then I had a teacher at school that was just that I think we need- you must have had a couple of mentors that were like, "Oh, hey, I see you, chubby boy, you got something to give here."
Harris Dickinson: I see you, chubby boy.
Andrew Garfield: I see you, chubby boy.
Harris Dickinson: There goes chubby boy.
Andrew Garfield: I think those moments are the most kind of vital ones. I don't know. I kind of want, I don't know about you, I just wanna now position myself to be able to give those moments to other people. It feels really important.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Do you get people reaching out? Do you have anyone in your life that you've, 'cause that's a nice thing to offer. That's a good gift to be able to share the, share the love of it. Is there anyone that's ever tried? I'm sure a lot of people try and reach out to you, but is-
Andrew Garfield: I'm always up for it. Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: You're always up for it.
Andrew Garfield: I love it. It makes me feel like- I'll sometimes go back and do stuff at my old drama school, but yeah, otherwise I'm just like, if there's a genuine connection, if there's someone that's genuinely like, I don't know, it feels called to our world then, I mean, what better than to help someone? Even like this or I dunno-
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Will you be my mentor?
Andrew Garfield: No, but really, and likewise, it's a two-way street. I think that's the thing. It's like we mentor each other and I need older people and I need younger people in my life. Nothing I like better than hanging out with, I have a really close friend. Nat Wolff. You know Nat?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: He's like you. He's turning 30 this year actually, but I became friends with him on a gig and we kind of mentor each other. He has stuff for me that I need, and take inspiration from, and I have stuff for him that he needs and takes inspiration. I don't think it happens as much as it maybe should because I think we're kind of pitted against each other more often than placed in community. I love what you've been saying about tribe and community and it's like, I remember getting to drama school for the first time and just being like, "Oh yeah, thank God. Oh, thank God."
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Even though it was imperfect, it was like, oh, at least there's a language here, and at least there's a shared longing or something, or a shared intention or a shared curiosity. We're all in black leotards pretending to be farm animals together, and we all feel as ridiculous as each other, but we're all kind of into it.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you finish drama school or did you start working?
Andrew Garfield: I finished, but I started doing my first play, my first two plays while I was still in third year.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: I did a play called Kes, like the Ken Loach film. Did you ever see that Ken Loach film? No way. No way!
Harris Dickinson: That's kind of embarrassing.
Andrew Garfield: No, it's not. That's sick.
Harris Dickinson: It's one of my favorite films, man.
Andrew Garfield: I saw that tattoo in the film, in Babygirl. I was like, oh I wonder if.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I probably should have covered it up, but-
Andrew Garfield: Well, I was like, I wonder if that's character or and if it is character, is it…
Harris Dickinson: You did Kes on stage?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. At Manchester Royal Exchange.
Harris Dickinson: Wow!
Andrew Garfield: Have you been to that theater?
Harris Dickinson: No. My dad's from that way as well. I didn't know about that.
Andrew Garfield: He's from Manchester?
Harris Dickinson: He's from near Manchester. He's from a place called Preston. How long was the run?
Andrew Garfield: I forget. It was my second play out of drama school, so I was 20.
Harris Dickinson: Wow.
Andrew Garfield: And… I played Billy. I played Billy Casper.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man.
Andrew Garfield: Oh man. That's great. I love that you have that.
Harris Dickinson: It’s so cool.
Andrew Garfield: It's all so tender! Who was I talking to about this? I was talking to another friend about this film and about why it's so important and it kind of doesn't bear analysis. It is beyond analysis. I think, I don't know, for me it was like, if I could reduce it, which is impossible, but it's like I think we all feel exiled. We all feel somehow disenfranchised, deemed as useless, deemed as, I don't know, not necessary. In fact, more so like a hassle, ostracized. There's something about that character finding tribe and finding belonging in wildness.
Harris Dickinson: Wildlife, yeah.
Andrew Garfield: His own wildness and the wildness of the bird and the wildness of nature, and feeling a true connection to being alive. Not unlike when we fucking hit that South Bank Seven. Not unlike when, and some strange skateboarders that we didn't know would like banging their boards because the little Groms made it. Not unlike you at RAW or me at my extracurricular drama school place. Yeah. That film and that story is kind of a template of everything I wanted to make really. The kind of soul of what I want to put into the world and kind of stories I want to tell that. That's so cool. How old were you when you got that?
Harris Dickinson: I got it a couple years ago, but it's always been a really special film. I've always, my dad showed it to me really young and yeah, all of the things you talk about was like… blew my little head off.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, that's so cool, so your dad was a film person?
Harris Dickinson: Kind of. Kind of.
Andrew Garfield: Is your dad still around?
Harris Dickinson: My dad's still around. Yeah. Yeah, my dad does know his films, but I think that was probably just a connection with the sort of northern nature as well that he was like, "You need to see this." My mom knew her films, but-
Andrew Garfield: Is your mom around still?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Okay, good.
Harris Dickinson: Your parents around?
Andrew Garfield: My mom passed five years ago. My dad is around. He's coming to the- we have premiere of London Film Festival, premiere of our film tonight.
Harris Dickinson: Tonight?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: Oh man.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, I'm knackered.
Harris Dickinson: Enjoy it. Try. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: All my old schoolmates who I used to skate with are coming.
Harris Dickinson: They're coming?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. With all their wives.
Harris Dickinson: Nice, nice, nice. Kids? Any kids in the mix?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, there are kids, but they're not, it's an R-rated. It's like 18 I think, or 15, so the kids can't come.
Harris Dickinson: Has your dad seen it?
Andrew Garfield: No. I'm concerned for him to see it.
Harris Dickinson: Why?
Andrew Garfield: Well, because of what it's about and because it's about a relationship and a loss in a relationship. He's obviously been through that in the last five years and it's still going through it in his own way, so I'm going to sit in and I'm going to watch it with him.
Harris Dickinson: You are?
Andrew Garfield: I'm going to sit next to him and just kind of be there. Yeah. I think it's like, sorry, going back to we are not saving lives, but I don't know to be able to create moments of healing potentially to set up, who knows? He might watch him be like, "Yeah, it's not your best work."
Harris Dickinson: It's a load of shit.
Andrew Garfield: It's absolutely possible, but it's also possible.
Harris Dickinson: Would he be honest with you?
Andrew Garfield: Oh yeah, but it's also possible that he might just get cracked open by it and it might unlock some more grief or it might unlock some more healing and more remembrance or more, it might make some sense of his pain more, if he feels less alone in it or whatever. I want to be there with him. Part of the reason why I took the film was because of that, to be honest. Because of what he had gone through and what we had all gone through in losing my mom. It felt like a film that could honor that experience in some kind of way and make it universal and give solace to a bunch of people who are obviously going through the same shit that I'm going through. The garden variety thing. Again, that connective, it's like, oh God, yeah, we're all just going through the same shit at different times. How wonderful is it that we get to hold each other as we're doing it? Time to wrap up?
Harris Dickinson: Time to wrap up.
Andrew Garfield: Wait, should we do a couple of these?
Andrew Garfield: All right, let's just do rapid fire. Let's just fuck around.
Harris Dickinson: What, these?
Andrew Garfield: Harris Dickinson does not like these.
Harris Dickinson: What is your favorite post shoot meal?
Andrew Garfield: Oh, I didn't mind that question. I like a bit. Let's do it.
Harris Dickinson: Let's do it. Go, go, go. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Let’s do something stupid and superficial. Not that nourishing ourselves is stupid and superficial-
Harris Dickinson: Answer the question.
Andrew Garfield: Fucking hell man.
Harris Dickinson: You wanted quick time!
Andrew Garfield: Stop rambling, Garfield. I don't know, like a spag bowl. Like a nice spag bowl with a lot of Parmesan. What about you?
Harris Dickinson: Burger and chips.
Andrew Garfield: Where from? What's your favorite burger in London?
Harris Dickinson: Maybe Five Guys?
Andrew Garfield: Five Guys. Good. Yeah. Yeah,
Harris Dickinson: Five Guys good. Maybe In-N-Out. If I'm in America. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: In California. If you could be in a remake of any film, what would it be? Oh, that's quite good actually.
Harris Dickinson: Secret Garden, but they did that, so that's a bad one. What about you?
Andrew Garfield: You know what? White Men Can't Jump, but they just did that already with Jack Harlow, so I don't want to be in a remake of a remake. If you could work with a former co-star again, who would that be?
Harris Dickinson: Emma Corrin.
Andrew Garfield: Oh nice.
Harris Dickinson: Loved that very much.
Andrew Garfield: What'd you guys do together?
Harris Dickinson: We did a series called Murder at the End of the World.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, cool.
Harris Dickinson: And we had a very fun time.
Andrew Garfield: She seems great.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Amazing.
Andrew Garfield: She seems really great.
Harris Dickinson: And you?
Andrew Garfield: God, I mean, multiple, a lot of people. Jesse Eisenberg, Sally Field.
Harris Dickinson: Jesse's just made a film.
Andrew Garfield: I know. Yeah. I'm so excited to see it. Martin Sheen. I'd like to work with Martin Sheen. Vincent D'Onofrio. God, lot of people. Which of each other's films would you have liked to star in? That's a good one.
Harris Dickinson: Social Network.
Andrew Garfield: Okay. That was quick.
Harris Dickinson: Thousand percent. Yeah, no hesitation.
Andrew Garfield: I would say Triangle of Sadness-
Harris Dickinson: And Spider-Man. You were my Spider-Man.
Andrew Garfield: Oh, thanks dude, no way.
Harris Dickinson: So maybe Spider-Man.
Andrew Garfield: Thanks man.
Harris Dickinson: Can I have two?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, I'm going to take two. I'm going to take Triangle of Sadness and Babygirl, actually. Do you believe there's one great love for each person?
Harris Dickinson: One great love?
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. I don't think so.
Harris Dickinson: I don't think so.
Andrew Garfield: No. I think love is an unconditioned energy that is always around and we either are tuned into it or not and it can exist anywhere.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. That's nice. I like that.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah.
Harris Dickinson: Yeah. Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: Which one of your characters is most like you in real life?
Harris Dickinson: That’s revealing.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah, let's not do that. What are you reading right now? Any book recommendations?
Harris Dickinson: I'm reading a book about… the sixties. What about you?
Andrew Garfield: You don’t want to talk more about that?
Harris Dickinson: No.
Andrew Garfield: Is it because you're making a film?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: And it's like a-
Harris Dickinson: Yeah.
Andrew Garfield: What am I reading right now? Yeah, I can't say what I'm reading either because it's also to do with the project. I'm not a good reader. I’m listening-
Harris Dickinson: I'm a slow reader.
Andrew Garfield: Me too. I like listening. I'm listening to Mike Nichols's biography right now, which is really great. Maybe we should just end this, and I love Babygirl, man. I think Babygirl is so fucking brilliant.
Harris Dickinson: Thank you man. I love your film too.
Andrew Garfield: Thank you.
Harris Dickinson: I'm really excited for everyone to see it. Good luck tonight.
Andrew Garfield: Yeah. Good luck with your flight, and you going to LA? Are you going to get some waves?
Harris Dickinson: Yeah, I'm going to try.
Andrew Garfield: Wait, where are you going to go? Where do you surf at, at First Point?
Harris Dickinson: First point or maybe The Colony. I don't know.
Andrew Garfield: Nice.
Harris Dickinson: Maybe I'll go further up. I don't know.
Andrew Garfield: Let me know. We'll talk after the cameras...