Does The Fanboy Lifestyle Breed Meaninglessness? Andrew Garfield Weighs In
Andrew Garfield touched on the dark side of having a fanboy lifestyle.
Garfield proved he could be more than just the famous web-slinger he landed on the new biopic this year. The Toronto International Film Festival will be home to Garfield's latest flick, "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," which dives into the lives and milestones reached by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.
But before the premiere happens, the actor touched on his previous works - specifically Marc Webb's "Spider-Man" - and explained the lifestyle the franchise introduced to him.
Andrew Garfield: "Marketing Ruined the Art"
In a new exclusive interview with Collider, Garfield shared how grateful he is for the friendships and relationships he established throughout his "Spider-Man" stint. As a fan of the Marvel superhero since he was three, he reportedly did not regret doing the movies.
However, Garfield also highlighted the major problem of the franchise: its marketing and how it affected the "art." Per the actor, selling shirts, Happy Meals, mugs, and more stuff brought nothing but meaninglessness - at least for him.
"I think there's a redirect that I want to be a part of, which is back towards things that are more eternal and dependable, because the things that we are being taught to depend upon are just so undependable," he went on.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, reportedly made people realize what is really important and what is not.
As a result of the marketing's damage, he and his friend collaborated with Sony for a splinter press tour. Instead of promoting materialism and commercialization, they visited a small philanthropic organization to define Spider-Man the way it deserves to be represented.
Garfield and his team opted to focus on organizations globally, highlighting essential purposes instead.
It was not the first time he talked about being upset about the marketing of the "unique" project.
In 2015, he told Indie Wire's "The Playlist" that doing a role on "The Amazing Spider-Man" brought huge pressure "like a prison."
Garfield detailed how he was seemingly pressured to please everyone and ended up pleasing no one in the end.
"[It's] like 'We want 50-year-old white men to love it, gay teenagers to love it, bigot homophobes in Middle America to love it, 11-year-old girls to love it.' That's canning Coke," he added. "So that aspect of it was a bummer."
The marketing strategy reportedly held him like a prisoner and ruined the movie itself. This, on the other hand, made him realize he cannot live within those expectations again.
