Andrew Garfield is ready to take a break. The American-born actor, 38, revealed he wants to step away from the spotlight for a while to “recalibrate.” Speaking with Variety for an interview published on Wednesday (April 27), Andrew made the confession in the midst of promoting his new limited series Under the Banner of Heaven, after a year filled with high-profile projects like The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Tick, Tick … Boom!, the latter for which he garnered an Oscar nomination.
“I’m going to rest for a little bit,” the star explained. “I need to recalibrate and reconsider what I want to do next and who I want to be and just be a bit of a person for awhile.” Andrew went on to suggest the previous awards season was a bit strenuous, calling it a “washing machine.“ He added, “I need to just be a bit ordinary for a while.”
We can’t blame Andrew for wanting a rest, as he has been on the Hollywood scene for a minute, with roles spanning such films as 2010’s Social Network to 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge to last year’s smash hit Spider-Man: No Way Home. Still, we will definitely miss him while he is “recalibrating.” In the meantime, we have his new true-crime series for FX to enjoy!
In it, Andrew plays Mormon detective Jeb Pyre, who is investigating the 1984 double murder of a mother and baby committed by fundamentalist followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. With the material being so dark and heavy, Andrew said he and the cast made sure to enjoy some light activities off-screen to keep mentally balanced.
“I think it was actually a necessity for us to have game nights and go into nature and hike and you know, swim and dive and lakes and dance and eat good food so that we could really come back and fully give ourselves [to the work],” he explained. “We had to keep on taking care of ourselves so that we can take care of the story.”
The series, which premieres with two episodes on FX and Hulu on Thursday (April 28), was written by Dustin Lance Black, who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay Milk starring Sean Penn, and directed by David Mackenzie, who helmed Hell or High Water. The limited series also stars Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sam Worthington.