It’s like, I’ve given all of those hours to nothing,” he says. It’s pretty dark when you look at it.” His Instagram rabbit holes include “weird ceramics” and “lots of Japanese kind of craftspeople.” Social media and technology are at the heart of Garfield’s new film, “The Magic Faraway Tree,” an adaptation of the Enid Blyton book series that is in theaters now. He and Claire Foy play Tim and Polly, a London couple who pack up their lives and their tech-dependent kids and move to a farm in the country.
Their youngest child, Fran (Billie Gadsdon), doesn’t speak until she discovers a magical tree inhabited by elf-like creatures. I spoke to Garfield talks about his busy year ahead — he also stars in the upcoming action period drama “The Uprising,” plays Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial” and portrays Roy in the Siegfried & Roy TV series “Wild Things” — and what he dreams of doing when he’s not working. I was doing “Spider-Man.” That was a dream from 40 years ago, so I was checking off one of my big dreams.
I was also checking off just being an actor. I still have dreams, but they’re slightly more earthbound than my previous ones. They’re maybe a bit more philosophical and existential than achievement based.
Now I think it’s more I want a certain quality of life. I want a certain quality of relationships with my family and friends. I want a certain quality of relationship with myself.
I’ve worked a lot this year. I’ve done like 11 months, 12 months, straight back-to-back projects. I want people to see those projects, so I’m gonna have to tell people about them.
But if I had my druthers, people would just see them, and I could go whittle wood in the Somerset countryside and think about what the birds might be doing. I think we’ve all had the impulse to smash our phones or throw it into the forest or throw it into the sea because we know it’s taking our lives from us in some way. I’m not better than anybody else.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
