Andrew Garfield wanted beaten ego

16 January 2017

Andrew Garfield wanted his "ego to get beaten up" making 'Silence'.

Andrew Garfield

The British actor portrays a Catholic missionary who, along with a fellow priest played by Adam Driver, sets out to Japan in search of their missing mentor (Liam Neeson) at a time when Catholicism is forbidden in the country in Martin Scorsese's religious epic and he had a "wonderful journey" making the film and hopes he learned a lot from it.

He said: "With 'Silence', there was longing. I wanted my ego to get beaten up. I wanted to get past this idea of self-glory, that limited perspective on life and what's meaningful.

"It was a wonderful journey to go on because it's the pulverisation of the ego and the cracking open of the small self to reveal the deeper self inside and to truly inhabit the world in a more mature way. I hope that some of that rubbed off."

Andrew undertook a lot of intense preparation for the role, and even spent seven days at a silence retreat at St. Bueno's Jesuit house in Wales.

And the actor admits the experience was "transformational" and had a profound effect on him.

Asked if the retreat helped him understand himself more, he told 'The Awards Show Show' podcast: "I hope so. I'm not able to say that for sure, but I definitely would like to believe that.

"I think that's the intention with every single project, or every single moment if I'm living right.

"I'm gonna learn something, find something, have to face something in myself that maybe I hadn't faced or known before. That's always my intention.

"It's a really hard life to live, but ultimately it's the only one that I know how.

"Especially with ['Silence'], I underwent the spiritual exercises that I've spoken a lot about in the press, but I think the reason I have spoken about them so much is because they are truly transformational.

"They do reveal your self to you, and they reveal where you long to be as opposed to where you've been told you long to be. That's a really interesting thing, to identify that still small voice inside.

"The only way you're able to do that is if you get underneath the noise, distraction, and seduction that you're surrounded by in daily life. There's not many quiet places left on planet Earth...

"I guess what I'm saying is, [we should be] evolving and progressing toward a greater understanding of our need for one another and what it means to live a life of soul and a life of meaning, because our president-elect is not a soul man as far as I can see."