Andrew Garfield became an A-lister after starring in films like The Amazing Spider-Man and The Social Network.
But before either of those features, Garfield thought another earlier film would be his key to superstardom.
Andrew Garfield once starred in ‘Lions for Lambs’
One of Garfield’s first movies was the 2007 political thriller Lions for Lambs. The film featured an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, and Michael Pena.
Garfield was able to find himself starring with such powerhouses thanks to an audition tape that wasn’t even for the feature. Initially, Garfield sent in the tape to a movie that ended up not being made.
“Eventually the tape of my test went to Avy Kaufman, who is a fantastic casting director, and she was casting the Redford movie and brought me in. Things kind of went from there. It was amazing spending time with Redford while we were making Lions for Lambs. Just incredible,” Garfield once said on Interview.
In hindsight, Garfield still couldn’t believe he was able to star in Lambs considering his status in the industry at the time.
“[It was] a ridiculous first movie to do because Robert Redford was directing and starring (in the film),” Garfield said in an interview with Wired. “Next on the call sheet was Meryl Streep. And then, after Meryl Streep was Thomas Cruise. Then after that, it was this little child called Andrew Garfield, who had never made a film before. And that’s ridiculous.”
Andrew Garfield once thought ‘Lions for Lambs’ would define our time
Despite the star-power, Lions for Lambs didn’t perform as well as some might have hoped. It currently holds a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 185 reviews. It was also considered one of Tom Cruise’s least successful projects. But the movie’s performance might have been especially disappointing for Garfield, who thought it would be his big break.
“The first film I did was Lions for Lambs with Robert Redford directing and Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise starring. It was a very worthy script, and I thought, ‘This is literally going to define our time.’ And the film didn’t do well at all. People hated it, to be honest,” Garfield once told the Los Angeles Times.
But Garfield would later triumph with The Social Network, which gave him the kind of validation he might have been looking for.
“What happens after you make a movie can’t really matter, but that’s easy to say, more difficult to practice. The Social Network was the first time I’ve been able to come away from the process deeply gratified and fulfilled,” he said.
Andrew Garfield couldn’t find work before ‘Lions for Lambs’
Although the film may not have done well, it gave the opportunity for Garfield find work that he sorely needed. Before then, the Silence star was having a difficult time getting hired in the film industry despite support from his peers. So much so that he had to change the way he thought to cope with his many rejections.
“Well, I had to develop certain defense mechanisms very, very quickly, and figure out ways to stop feeling defined by whether or not someone was offering me a job opportunity,” Garfield said. “I realized that after finding this thing that allowed me to express myself—acting—and being encouraged by a few people that I could do it, I had kind of grabbed onto it and dug in my claws in a way that was maybe a bit unhealthy. I allowed myself to get into a headspace where I lived or died by what I achieved in this particular field—which is not great when you’re not getting work.”
