Andrew Garfield opens up on mid life crisis before 'We Live in Time'

Andrew Garfield was going through a mid-life crisis when he read the script of We Live in Time.

Andrew jumped at the chance to do the movie as it reflected his thoughts at that time in a way that it felt like he wrote the script himself.

We Live in Time stars Florence Pugh opposite The Amazing Spider-Man star. The couple navigate life-changing events including a divorce, and recurring ovarian cancer as well as the joy of parenthood.

In a press conference after the movie’s screening at San Sebastian Festival, Andrew recalled his thoughts when he read Nick Payne’s script: “When I read [the script], I was in deep contemplation of the meaning of life. As always, but maybe more pronounced in that moment. I was thinking about life, death, love, meaning, time… standing at the age of 39 and 40, kind of a mid-life crisis, looking forward, looking backward, looking exactly where I am, and thinking, ‘What now?'”

He continued: “This script arrived, and it was as if I had written it from that place,” he elaborated, recalling that he had to ask himself, ‘How did I write this so well? I’m not a writer.'”

He argued that if he and Payne were contemplating the same concepts at the same time, it meant that “these things, “there’s gotta be something to it, something universal in this story.”

He also reflected on the concept of heroism when a journalist referred to his and Pugh’s characters as heroes.

“I struggle with that word right now in our culture,” the Hacksaw Ridge star elaborated. “Anyone in my life who has been through something similar to what Tobias and Almut go through would reject the idea of being heroic.”

He continued: “People in my family and close friends who have been through things of the most horrific nature, the kind of things where you have to wonder if the universe has any justice in it, those moments where you think ‘What is the setup here and how am I supposed to carry on?’ The ones that do find a way to carry on, would reject outright the idea of being heroic. It’s necessity.”

He then began explaining what he loves about the two characters, and received the largest applause from the journalists.

He said, “What I love about these two people is that they represent this strange, mysterious, undying, inexplicable want to live in the face of the most horrific heartache and loss. And how we, as human beings, find that strength, that want, that little flame of longing to live over and over and over again.”

“There are probably people in this room going through something not dissimilar from these characters, facing death and choosing to live anyway. I find that remarkable,” he added, garnering the loudest applause of the morning,” he concluded.

Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh starring We Live in Time will hit limited theaters in the U.S. on October 11.