Why Andrew Garfield Is Taking a Break From Acting

Andrew Garfield is looking toward being "a bit ordinary for awhile," as he revealed in a new interview.

Andrew Garfield could use a break. 

After a whirlwind year of major projects and award nominations, the 38-year-old actor has revealed he's planning on taking a break. "I’m gonna rest for a little bit," he told Variety. "I need to kind of recalibrate and reconsider what I want to do next and who I want to be and just be a bit of a person for awhile."

Garfield's declaration comes amid the debut of his latest leading project, the FX on Hulu series Under the Banner of Heaven. Prior to the new show, Garfield spent the beginning of this year making the award show rounds after earning another Academy Award nomination and winning his first Golden Globe Award among other nods for his performance in the movie musical, Tick, Tick... Boom! And this was after he got back into his suit for a surprise role in Spider-Man: No Way Home and starred alongside Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye -- which was in production when his mother, Lynn, died. 

However, before her passing, Garfield got to spend two final weeks with her. "I love talking about her...so if I cry, it's only a beautiful thing," he later told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in a now-viral interview. "This is all the unexpressed love, right? The grief that will remain with us, you know, until we pass because we never get enough time with each other, right? No matter if someone lives till 60, 15 or, you know, 99, so I hope this grief stays with me because it's all the unexpressed love that I didn't get to tell her and I told her every day."

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In a moment of life and art intertwining, Garfield went on to portray Jonathan Larson in Tick, Tick... Boom!, the Rent writer who died suddenly at 35 on the day of the show's first Off-Broadway performance . "I got to sing Jonathan Larson's unfinished song," he told Colbert, "while simultaneously singing for my mother and her unfinished song."

Describing it as a "washing machine," Garfield told Variety "that award season stuff is so fun and you get to hang out with people that you love and admire" as well as be a part of a "privileged" conversation. "But, now," he continued, "I need to just be a bit ordinary for awhile."

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