Andrew Garfield Went Through "Wild" And Trippy" Experiences While Starving Himself Of Sex And Food For Role In 2016 Film Silence

Andrew Garfield went through some “trippy” experiences while giving up sex and starving himself as part of his method acting.

Speaking on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast on Monday (Aug 22), Garfield said he went celibate and without food to prepare for his role as a 17th-century Jesuit priest in Martin Scorsese’s 2016 missionary film Silence, which also featured Liam Neeson and Adam Driver.

Garfield said, “I did a bunch of spiritual practices every day, I created new rituals, I was celibate for six months and I was fasting a lot.

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

Garfield also spent a year studying in preparation for Silence under Jesuit writer Father James Martin, 61, who helped the actor research Catholicism.

The two-time Oscar-nominated actor added about the sacrifices: “There have been a lot of misconceptions about what method acting is, I think.

“People are still acting in that way, and it’s not about being an a****** to everyone on set.

“It’s actually just about living truthfully under imagined circumstances and being really nice to the crew simultaneously and being a normal human being and being able to drop it when you need to and staying in it when you want to stay in it.”

Garfield hinted to Variety in April that the technique may have taken its toll, saying he is taking a step back from Hollywood to be “ordinary for a while.”

He said: “I’m going to rest for a little bit.”

Garfield is up for a Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at next month's Emmys for Under the Banner of Heaven, now streaming on Disney+. He will also return to cinemas on Sept 8 with the extended cut of Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos