Why we can't get enough of Andrew Garfield's emotional press tour

Andrew Garfield's approach to promoting his latest film, We Live in Time, might be unlike anything we've seen before.

Not because we haven't before seen stars have memorable interactions with Elmo, or create viral moments on Chicken Shop Date — but because he seems to be going about it with a real sense of sincerity.

Is the actor being as deeply vulnerable as he seems? Or, is it all a brilliant act? Today on Commotion, culture critics Kathleen Newman-Bremang and Niko Stratis tell host Elamin Abdelmahmoud why it's so refreshing to watch him wear his heart on his sleeve.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Niko, have you ever seen anyone promoting a movie who seems to be giving so much of themselves in a way that seems so deeply sincere? 

Niko: You know how the reports came out that they're playing Metallica to break people in custody, or whatever? I think if you just played those three clips [of Andrew Garfield] to someone in a dark room, they would tell you anything in the world because all of their defenses, they're just obliterated forever. So thank you for that, first and foremost. 

Elamin: Of course.

Niko: It's a lot, right? It is a lot to hear someone be that sincere in an environment where we assume that someone is going to be performing the obligations of their status as a famous person. Sincerity is a currency, by and large. We have put sincerity up for sale. It is a thing that we buy in a lot of people, so it's alarming sometimes to hear someone say, "I'm going to be sincere in a way that's going to disarm you." 

I've been thinking about this a lot: what does it mean to hear somebody? I'm sort of catching myself because I'm like, what was the question you even asked me? Because I'm so sort of lost in this. It is a lot to hear someone make Elmo be vulnerable and say, "Let's talk about grief and loss," and how it feels to cry when you're not expecting to cry.

Elamin: I mean, first of all, I could hear your voice breaking up as you answer that. But also, in a very real way, your answer contained the answer to my question, which is, have you ever seen someone be this sincere when promoting a movie? Because I think the answer is we kind of haven't. 

Kathleen, so much of your job is talking to people who are promoting something that they're very excited about. Do you get this level of sincerity? Have you ever seen anything like this? 

Kathleen: No, because inherently, as Niko said, a promotion tour is insincere. It's a transaction. Like, "I'll do this for you, and you'll go see my movie," right? And increasingly recently, the press tour is an extension of the performance these actors do in their movies, right? There's the theme dressing they do on red carpets. There's the playing up the chemistry between co-stars like we saw with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney, right? But when it comes to Andrew, it does feel more real. Because even if he is playing up the chemistry thing with Florence Pugh, or talking about how he loves to cry to promote a movie that aims to make you cry, it feels very much imperfect on purpose and intentional.

I think two things can be true here. Like, we are all very moved by his words…. And so I think that this is genuinely a guy who is a romantic at heart, who does cry at the drop of a hat, and is such a good actor that he can make you believe he's falling in love with anybody and can charm everyone, which he clearly has. I don't think one cancels out the other. I don't think that doesn't mean that he and Amelia aren't going to fall in love for real and live happily ever after. I think we can have both.

Elamin: A programming note that just for today, the CBC has been renamed The Cry Baby Corporation. I think that is where we are.

Niko, I do want to return to Earth for a moment here, and by that I mean … Andrew Garfield is promoting a movie, We Live in Time. He plays a man who's grappling with his wife's cancer diagnosis. Vulnerability and grief are the big themes of this movie, so there's somebody listening to this who's like, "All three of you are crying. That's kind of wild, because clearly this is a part of a very clever and calculated move to market this movie." I don't know what to say to that person. Maybe you know what to say to that person?

Niko: I say to that person, let yourself go a little bit. Allow yourself to believe in magic. I get the cynicism of it too, to a certain degree, because I think the idea around sincerity and openness that we're talking about, these are pieces of currency, right? And it's an easy thing to buy from a guy like Andrew Garfield because he's a handsome, straight white guy with a nice accent and soft features…. Rather than looking at it entirely cynically, I think it's important to look at it as like, what if we embraced this more? What if we allowed this in more? What if you can be vulnerable in a way where you're still selling something? And what if that's okay?

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jess Low.