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Andrew Garfield has praised his The Eyes of Tammy Faye co-star Jessica Chastain and Searchlight Pictures producer David Greenbaum for halting production on the film to allow him to be with his dying mother, Lynn Garfield.
Garfield and Chastain starred as televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in the 2021 biopic, which was filmed in 2019.
Speaking to People, Garfield said he was “very grateful” for the compassionate act in the days before his mother died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 69.
“What was amazing was that [David Greenbaum] and Jessica rearranged the schedule last-minute — put filming on hold [in North Carolina] for a few days so that I could go back [to England] and be with my mom for 10 days,” said Garfield.
He added that co-star Vincent D’Onofrio also encouraged him to leave the set and return to England.
“Because he had his own experience with a loss that he wasn’t able to make it back for, he said, ‘Go. You got to go.’ And I was like, ‘Well, I know I’ve got to go and thank you,’ ” said Garfield.
The actor recalled that he and Chastain would also attend church services together and visit the Bakker’s now-closed Christian theme park Heritage USA.
Garfield, who co-stars with Florence Pugh in new romantic drama We Live in Time, added about spending time with Chastain: “We would have deep conversations, because we were both getting to know each other as people. I’m really very grateful for that time with her because it was the time when my mum was really sick and ultimately passed away.”
Earlier this week, Garfield defended working with Mel Gibson, who directed him in Hacksaw Ridge.
He appeared in the 2016 war film, which was a comeback-of-sorts for Gibson. After the actor-filmmaker was blacklisted from Hollywood for a string of controversies, including racist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, Hacksaw Ridge saw Gibson receive an Oscar nomination for Best Director.
Garfield has now addressed his decision to star in a film directed by Gibson, stating: “He’s done a lot of beautiful healing with himself.”
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Garfield told People: “And thank God. Because he’s an amazing filmmaker, and I think he deserves to make films. He deserves to tell stories, because he has a very, very big, compassionate heart.”
Gibson, who is prepping sequels to The Passion of the Christ and Lethal Weapon, was arrested for suspected drink driving in Malibu in 2006, and made antisemitic remarks to a policeman, which he later apologised for, claiming that the comments were “blurted out in a moment of insanity”.
Garfield, who is Jewish, said he had “deep, important conversations” with Gibson before signing onto Hacksaw Ridge. He called the Lethal Weapon star “a deeply empathetic guy”, and said the collaboration taught him “a lot”.
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