ABC/Randy Holmes(LONDON) — During a question and answer session with an audience at London’s National Theatre, actor Andrew Garfield gave an unusual reason for why he, a straight man, is able to portray a gay man in an adaptation of the play Angels in America.
“As far as I know, I am not a gay man,” the former Amazing Spider-Man star began, according to the UK’s Gay Times. “Maybe I’ll have an awakening later in my life, which I’m sure will be wonderful and I’ll get to explore that part of the garden, but right now I’m secluded to my area, which is wonderful as well.”
Then, in a comment that ruffled some feathers, Garfield noted that his preparation for the production included binge-watching the work of a gay icon.
“I mean, every single series of RuPaul’s Drag Race,” he said. “I mean, every series. My only time off during rehearsals – every Sunday I would have eight friends over and we would just watch Ru. This is my life outside of this play. I am a gay man right now, just without the physical act – that’s all.”
As for his being cast as a gay man, he added, “I had to trust that it was the right thing. And [Angels in America] writer Tony [Kushner] had asked me, and maybe if he’d asked me, it was the right thing. It was…about doing honor, doing justice and knowing my herstory.”
Garfield told the audience that his preparation for the role of a man dying from AIDS took months, and continues even off-stage. The play, he noted, is, “as much devoted to my friends in the gay community as it is those that passed during the epidemic.”
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