Andrew Garfield sparked a backlash (from the more easily scandalised part of the LGBT world) when he joked that he was ‘gay man right now, just without the physical act’. Quite how vociferously angry some peope were could have resulted in Garfield being a lot more guarded, but it doesn’t seem to have had that effect. Indeed, he seems to want to put things in further context.
Talking to Out recently, he chatted about how he doesn’t view his sexuality as immutable and unchangeable. “Up until this point, I’ve only been sexually attracted to women,” Garfield says. “My stance toward life, though, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge. I think most people – we’re intrinsically trying to control our experience here, and manage it, and put walls around what we are and who we are.
“I want to know as much of the garden as possible before I pass – I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time.”
Garfield was talking to Out ahead of his Broadway run in Angels In America, after playing the role of Prior Walter to great acclaim in London last year.
He add ed, “But, if I were to identify, I would identify as heterosexual, and being someone who identifies that way, and who’s taking on this seminal role, my scariest thought was, Am I allowed to do this?”
Coming back around to the comments that were taken badly last year, he says, “I think part of what I was trying to say was about inclusion, and about that openness to my impulses.”