He may be the internet’s beloved, but sometimes, Andrew Garfield just needs to feel like a person again. The Academy Award-nominated actor is currently promoting his new FX/Hulu show Under the Banner of Heaven that takes us into the real-life murder case of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter. Garfield plays Detective Jeb Pyre, a Mormon who has his faith tested when the gruesome murder of Brenda and her 15-month-old daughter hits too close to home.
The show delves into Pyre’s own struggles with religion and his own family after what he’s witnessed from the Lafferty family. It isn’t an easy show to watch, and it is very heavy in Pyre’s own religion mixed with that of his partner, Detective Bill Taba (Gil Birmingham), and his work as a detective separate from the Mormon ways that Pyre operates in.
That’s heavy enough on its own, and with Garfield coming off of a string of “heavy” work before it, it shouldn’t surprise us that he wants to take a break and recharge. In an interview with Variety’s Marc Malkin, Garfield talked a bit about needing to be “ordinary” for a while, and given how much he’s been working these past few years, it makes sense. “I’m going to rest for a little bit,” he said. “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. Because as you know, that is a washing machine, that awards season. I need to just be a bit ordinary for a while.”
He’s been busy!
When you think of Andrew Garfield’s 2021, there are three big projects that instantly jump to mind, and that’s a lot for any actor—especially one who was also in the awards circuit. Praised (rightfully so) for his work as Jonathan Larson in tick, tick…BOOM!, Garfield just finished doing the awards scene, and that was after starring in two other movies that got him recognition for his performances. He starred opposite Jessica Chastain—who won an Oscar for her performance—in The Eyes of Tammy Faye as Jim Bakker, then going on to both tick, tick…BOOM! and his return as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home. All of that together with the filming of Under the Banner of Heaven, and honestly, I get it.
It’s not to say that Garfield is leaving acting forever. In his own words, he’s just going to rest for a little bit. It could be a brief vacation or something longer, but if anyone deserves to go sit on a beach for a while, it’s Andrew Garfield.
(image: FX/Hulu)
