Andrew Garfield Says He Fasts and Stays Celibate For This Reason

Veteran actor Andrew Garfield gets vulnerable about method acting and shares his challenging but rewarding experience in a past role. 

In a recent episode of the podcast "WTF with Marc Maron", the "The Amazing Spiderman" star discussed his experience in method acting and how it helped shape him for his roles in the past. 

The 39 year old actor recalled his own experience when he started out with method acting and revealed that he had spent a year studying Catholicism and meditating, which he learned with the help of Father James Martin-a Jesuit priest and writer. He underwent this 6-month preparation for his role as a Jesuit priest in the 2016 film, "Silence".

"It was very cool, man," Garfield said. "I had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of sex and food at that time."

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Garfield Slams Recent Controversy on Method Acting

To say that the "Under the Banner of Heaven" actor was not pleased with criticism on method acting is an understatement. The actor also took to "WTF with Marc Maron" to express his annoyance at people who misunderstand the art.

Some notable actors who have criticized method acting include Robert Pattinson, who told Jennifer Lopez during an interview that the technique only works "when they're playing a-holes". Meanwhile, Mads Mikkelsen expressed to GQ that he believes method acting is "pretentious."

"I'm kind of bothered by the misconception, I'm kind of bothered by this idea that 'method acting is fucking bullshit.' No, I don't think you know what method acting is if you're calling it bullshit, or you just worked with someone who claims to be a method actor who isn't actually acting the method at all," Garfield ranted about the misconception of the acting technique.

Is Method Acting Taking a Toll on Garfield?

With the lifestyle changes and adjustments the actor had to make to his acting technique, Garfield announced in April that he would be taking a break from Hollywood for a while. Specifically, he said he needed to feel "ordinary for a while". 

In his most recent role, Andrew Garfield played as Detective Jeb Pyre in "Under the Banner of Heaven". The mini-series launched on April 28 and can be streamed on FX on Hulu.

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