When Andrew Garfield was co-starring as Biff opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman in a 2012 Broadway revival of “Death of A Salesman,” he observed, “There is something in this play that doesn’t allow you to feel truthful unless you are literally baring every aspect of your soul.”The 32-year-old actor, best known for his role in “The Amazing Spider-Man” film franchise, will have an even more heated opportunity to bare his soul in next year’s revival of Tony Kushner’s epic “Angels in America” at London’s National Theatre. He will be starring in the pivotal role of Prior Walter, a young man with AIDS who is visited by heavenly visions in the Tony Award-winning drama, which is subtitled: “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes.”It will be a homecoming of sorts for both Garfield and “Angels in America.” Although born in Los Angeles of a British mother and American father, the actor was raised in Surrey, England, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and launched his career on the stage. He was lauded for his early theater work, but his career breakthrough came in the David Fincher film, “The Social Network,” in which he was featured as Facebook co-founder Eduardo Severin.Mike Nichols, impressed with what he called “the actor’s astonishing emotional power,” then cast him in the revival of “Death of a Salesman,” for which he was nominated for a Tony Award.“Angels in America” took Broadway by storm, beginning in 1993, and won consecutive Best Play Tony Awards for Part 1, “The Millennium Approaches,” and Part II, “Perestroika.” But the epic drama first debuted at the National Theatre in January of 1992. Thus this return, directed by Marianne Elliott (“War Horse,” “Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”), represents a 25th Anniversary engagement. It’s notable, too, that in the original productions of “Angels” at the National, the role of Joe Pitt, the closeted Mormon lawyer, was played by Daniel Craig, who went on to global fame as James Bond.Garfield, who once suggested that he could envision a “pansexual” Peter Parker, has finished with that franchise since the producers intend to go in a more youthful direction. As with Daniel Radcliffe, this has left the actor free to return to the stage as well as to follow more challenging assignments in film. Garfield has just completed starring in “Hacksaw Ridge,” the World War II movie directed by Mel Gibson. He plays Desmond T. Doss, the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.At the time he was appearing in “Death of a Salesman,” Garfield welcomed his return to the stage as a refuge of sorts from the pressures of Hollywood with its emphasis on opening weekend grosses, award nominations, and one’s place in the pecking order. “All the stuff that interests my ego,” he said at the time.“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what you have to offer,” he added of his artistic endeavors. “Just offer it.”
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