Any pop culture lover would know that while celebrities often speak about unfavorable things that have happened on movie sets, it’s very rare for them to name and shame the star in question, with whispers and rumors often dominating the conversation.
Which is why it is always so refreshing when somebody actually does identify the person they are talking about, and that is exactly what Andrew Garfield did during a recent appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast.
Of course, in true Andrew Garfield style, he did not name the costar in a shady way, instead insisting that they were a “beautiful” person, who made him “feel like an equal” on his very first film set way back in 2007.
Yep, before he was globally renowned as Spider-Man or The Social Network’s Eduardo Saverin, Andrew was a totally unknown theater actor who was nervous to have landed his first movie role at age 23.
To make things even more intimidating, this movie — Lions for Lambs — also starred big-shot Hollywood actors like Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford, who was also the director.
And Amy acknowledged what a big deal this would have been as she asked Andrew: “As you’re driving to set or whatever, what are you saying to yourself when you’re approaching that set? That’s a really intimidating set. What was it like to work with Robert Redford?”
“I don’t know what I was telling myself,” Andrew admitted, before calling Robert a “beautiful soul of service.” He went on to acknowledge all of the work that the late actor did for the film community, including cofounding the Sundance Institute and, subsequently, the Sundance Film Festival.
“He was a beautiful, beautiful man,” Andrew concluded, before adding: “And very late all the time, to everything.”
“So, I say it with love… I’m, like, terrified and nervous and pinching myself, and then Bob is four hours late,” he recalled. “And by that time, I’m just pissed. I’m angry.”
Andrew then laughed as he clarified that he was joking, saying: “No, no, I wasn’t really. But a lot of the nerves had kind of dissipated because he was so loose and casual. He was so cool, and he still dressed like he was in his 20s with double denim… And he wasn’t aware that he was late. He was just, like, on his own time. Redford time.”
“And he was famously late!” Andrew continued to clarify. “I’m not telling tales like I’m at school; he was a famously late person.”
Despite the four-hour delay in filming, Andrew added that once Robert did arrive, he was a pure joy to work with — and even made him feel like he was an established part of the team. Andrew shared: “He was so relaxed, and he would shoot his own coverage first. He would shoot himself, and then would look at me after his first take, and he’d be like: ‘What do you think?’ Because he was directing as well.”
“So, all of my scenes were with him, and he was like: ‘What do you think?’ And I was like: ‘It’s great, really good, Robert Redford,’” he continued. “And he was like: ‘OK, that’s really… I’ll do it again. Tell me if you see anything you think…’ and I’m like: ‘Oh my god,’ [he] just made me feel like it was my set, and made me feel like I was an equal — and he knew it was my first movie. Oh, he was so nice. He was so beautiful.”
If you need reminding, Robert Redford rose to fame in the ‘60s and ‘70s, with standout roles in the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Way We Were, and Indecent Proposal. He retired in 2018, and died just over a year ago at age 89.
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