In the last four days, Andrew Garfield has won a Golden Globe Award, landed on BAFTA’s “longlists” for his performances in both “tick, tick…BOOM!” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for the former film – all while “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” in which he appears, continues to dominate the box office.
It has, in other words, been a very busy, very crowded time. “I just have to take them one at a time, I think, and appreciate that I’m alive and breathing and that I get to act,” Garfield told TheWrap on Wednesday morning, shortly after the SAG nominations were announced. “I’m trying my best to be present for it and really enjoy the moment and feel the energy of it – and to ask myself, ‘What do I want to do with this energy?’”
Of course, that part is complicated by the fact that awards season has once again gone virtual, after a flurry of in-person events before the Omicron variant made gatherings too risky. “It’s obviously changed things, but it’s the same with everything in life right now,” he said. “We’re all longing to be in rooms together safely – what are we but our connections?
“It would be wonderful if I could share this in a room with my castmates and friends and family,” he said. “I mean, I’d love to go bowling tonight and get an In-N-Out burger to celebrate, but we have to accept where we are and put safety first.”
And the actor would also like to get together with one of his fellow nominees – because for years, Garfield’s go-to karaoke song has been Will Smith’s “Miami,” and now he’s going up against Smith, who was nominated for his lead performance in “King Richard.”
“How do you begin to compute that?” he said, laughing. “He’s a cultural icon. All these actors in the category are cultural icons.” (The others are Benedict Cumberbatch for “The Power of the Dog,” Denzel Washington for “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and Javier Bardem for “Being the Ricardos.”)
“It’s kind of surreal and humbling, and I’m praying that we get to be in person because I want to give Will Smith a hug.”
A pause. “And Denzel, too.”