series “Doctor Who” and the 2007 Robert Redford drama “Lions for Lambs.” With each subsequent part, Garfield has amped up his skill and intensity, evidenced by films like “The Social Network,” “99 Homes, “ “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Silence.” This fall he hits a new stride, one that could land him in the thick of the Oscar race.Ĭhastain spent 10 years developing a scripted feature based on the 2000 documentary “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.” For much of that time she was hustling for financing as a producer and perfecting her Tammy Faye voice as an actor. His breakout roles came in the popular U.K. While dealing with tragedies both onstage and in his personal life, Garfield reveals, he developed a newfound appreciation for his craft.īorn in Los Angeles and raised in a suburb of London, Garfield began training in youth theater at age 9 before studying speech and drama in primary and secondary school. In his most demanding screen role to date, one that requires him to sing and dance, Garfield embodies the trailblazing, multitalented lyricist and composer who brought issues of race, classism and homophobia to the establishment’s front door before his sudden death.īoth premieres come after a more-than-two-year hiatus from film acting, during which Garfield starred in West End and Broadway productions of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” a role that earned him the Tony Award for best actor in 2018. Later this fall, Garfield will bookend the festival season with the November AFI Fest premiere of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut “Tick, Tick … Boom!” The Netflix musical follows the artistic and emotional journey of late “Rent” creator Jonathan Larson. The man was a cherubic young pastor whose self-worth issues and deep belief in his interpretation of Scripture led to disgrace. Still baby-faced at 38 years old, Garfield is tasked with aging over four decades and selling the complicated story of Bakker. In 1988, Jim was indicted on counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy, all surrounding donations solicited from viewers and investors in his church. Their doctrine, Garfield says, was “prosperity” - a perfect theme for the “greed is good” era, but also an obsession with materialism that ultimately led to the couple’s downfall. The Searchlight Pictures release, from director Michael Showalter, reexamines the cultural impact of the Bakkers, whom Garfield describes to Variety as “the first reality show couple.” Jim and Tammy Faye were pioneering televangelist superstars from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s they combined their preaching with the standard talk show format in a way that had never been done. There they delved into the tangled lives and legacies of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, whom they portray in “ The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” a biopic premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
Garfield, who played the webslinger in two Sony films in 20, returned to that church - where the couple used to preach - over many subsequent Sundays with his colleague Jessica Chastain. This isn’t the first sticky situation that Andrew Garfield has extricated himself from with a little superhuman charm.