Andrew Garfield on a rampage
Also: I run my mouth about Jensen Ackles, cause it's my substack and I can do what I want
Aaahh fall! It may be 76 degrees in Chicago right now, but there are leaves on the ground and I’m feeling nostalgic. I think fall breeds nostalgia—or maybe the sun is just setting earlier—but who know and who cares. My brain is yearning for the past, easier, simple times…the golden days of a good old fashioned celebrity press tour. Those days when you knew a celebrity wanted you to watch something they were in, because suddenly they were everywhere.
Ask and the universe will deliver, because what a month it has been for Andrew Garfield. Now this, is a press tour, this is a series of videos and interviews that can stop seasonal depression in its tracks and give us something to talk about—finally!
My sister isn’t really all that online—her take on all this was she was glad to see Andrew Garfield was back, she thought he had fallen off, I say he just hasn’t had a press tour in a while!
So let’s break it down, see what Garfield is out there peddling, and why everyone just can’t stop talking about it:
Andrew Garfield hangs with Seth Meyers
Seth Meyers: certified great hang. Watch any of his day drinking videos for proof of that. I love when a celebrity goes on his show instead of Colbert of Fallon cause you know the interviews going to be top notch. Meyers is great at just letting people be themselves, letting them talk and tell stories with no interruptions or jabs.
Garfield isn’t like laugh out loud funny here, but he is charming. I chose this clip of him from the episode cause I think the stories he tell are very, well…telling. Garfield gets really into the craft, what it means to be an actor, how its about just pretending to be a person, how sometimes he has to just let the spirit move him. It’s a little self serious and pretentious, which Garfield does admit to. But, with all the debate on this press cycle about when Garfield is acting and isn’t, about what about him is real and isn’t…I think this one is a good place to start. Also I want everyone to watch a lot more Late Night with Seth Meyers no one is doing it like him!!!
Andrew Garfield has a MeetCute with Florence Pugh
Perfectly nice and cute whatever, but the set up is kind of weird. One thing Florence Pugh does not do? Date her costars! Not only is she the best working actress today1 but she’s also goddamn professional! Don’t shit where you eat, Flo! And she know’s this!
So it’s a bit awkward. They’re standing a weird distance apart, like she’s actively pulling away from him…and watching her face as the interviewer asks him to describe her…it’s coworker you respect but don’t get along with outside the office.
I want a good boyfriend for Florence Pugh! Her and Garfield have bizarrely very little chemistry here. Especially because they’re playing against each other romantically in the movie their promoting AND considering the chemistry Garfield does have in the video below…
Andrew Garfield + Amelia Dimoldenberg
The way people are talking about this video my gaawwwdd!
People are saying they’re in love, they’re soulmates, people are comparing them to Hot Priest and Fleabag
A friend of mine from college shared on her story that it made her physically angry to watch. That it was the most vile, most disingenuous thing she had ever seen and I went…I have to know what’s going on with this immediately! This is a Water Cooler moment! This is Must See TV!
Everyone’s dying to know: What is going on with these too?? Is it real??? Is it acting?? Does he like her? Is it all for show? Will they go out in real life???
Listen, of course part of it is an act because these two are actors, they are performers, they are doing a show, they are putting on their little personas. Think about what Garfield said in that Seth Meyers clip! Acting is all about pretending to be a person!
BUT, that does not mean that these two don’t have real chemistry. The video camera cannot contain it. It’s cute, it’s flirty. Compare it to the video of Garfield and Miss Flo okay? Even if they’re acting that does not mean Andrew Garfield does not have a crush on Amelia! When at the end Amelia goes “You have my number…you asked for my number at a party” and I went…GASP!
There is something there, and that’s part of why I think my friend found it so cruel. Cause, when you break it down, can also appear like Garfield is well…leading her on. He’s the older one (he’s 41, she’s 30) he’s more famous, has more accolades, has more power. Watching him flirt with her, and poke at her, hinder her ability to use the persona she does for the show, can be a lot.
Will they go out in real life?? Please be real for a second.
We know they’re not gonna date, she’s a correspondent, a funny girl, a cheeky performer, and he’s…Andrew Garfield. He’s dated Emma Stone, Rita Ora, a myriad of other beautiful women. He has two Oscar nominations, Emmy noms, he’s a Marvel actor, a serious actor, he’s a household name.
Maybe it is cruel that they were playing pretend, playing with the emotions of their audience by letting people fantasize that they could be together2. When they’re just not. I remind you that even Fleabag and Hot Priest do not end up together! You can have chemistry and like someone, and have some genuine emotion and your job will still be the more important thing in your life. A crush is whatever when you have bills to pay!
On that note though, I do think this interview will be good for both their careers. It gives Dimoldenberg more of a name, more of an edge, it makes her more of a serious contender. People are talking about her now in ways they hadn’t before and I think it will be interesting to see how it plays out. And it humanizes Garfield. I feel like the last relationship he was in that we all supported was Emma Stone, back when they would have their charitable pap walks and we believed that love between a Spider Man and his leading lady was ever lasting.3
I’m dying to know what happens next with Dimoldenberg and Garfield, even though the answer will I think be ‘nothing’. This is real life, they’re professionals, but what a moment in time! Let this date stand as it is: fun, cutey, flirty…beautiful, perfect wish fulfillment.
A palate cleanser: Andrew Garfield and Elmo break your heart
Whenever a celebrity goes on Sesame Street, you know you’re in for a treat. Sure some do it cause they’re contractually obligated, but every once in a while you get someone that’s there just because they want to be. That’s Garfield here. There’s no artifice, no acting, Garfield is very candid and open in a way that he is not always (in two of the above videos he says “that’s none of your business” to interviewers asking very boilerplate questions).
This is clearly something Garfield really wanted to do for his mom, and its a beauitful tribute. It’s just…sincere. Sincerity from an actor is always something great to see when you catch it. And listen, If you’re not sincere to the Muppets….they will let you have it have it4 .
What else is on.
You know who’s not on a press tour right now? Jensen Ackles. He’s never been on the press tour that he deserves, in my humble opinion. But I’m also just thinking about him an inordinate amount cause I’m rewatching Supernatural.
My gay roommate—who got mad at me for crediting him just as that in the last newsletter(which fair whatever!) so Jake Theriot if we’re insisting on using full Christian names here—loves a seasonal rewatch.
I said it above—fall is built for nostalgia, certain seasons are built to relive certain pieces of your life. In the summer I always find myself rewatching The OC, and at the start of the fall, I’ll always do a rewatch of Over the Garden Wall5. Jake says you need to watch something spooky in the fall, he’s rewatching The Magicians and I’ve got Supernatural.
I wish age had tampered my desire to talk about this show—if only we were all so fortunate! But the things it does to me!
This is not a good take, this is not a cool opinion. Saying my favorite show is Supernatural is like saying my favorite show is Grey’s Anatomy. They’ve both been on forever, have weirdly dedicated fanbases and both make people go “really?” when you say you still watch them.
It’s not even a show I can in good faith recommend. For starters it was on for fifteen years and has over 300 episodes. What a time commitment! The episodes vary wildly in quality, the acting is scattered, nearly every female character is underwritten and killed horrifically, the stories are repetitive, the dialogue will make you role your eyes, you will be embarrassed to have it on around your friends and family.
And yet…the things it does to me!
You want to know why Supernatural was on for fifteen years? Because Jensen Ackles played Dean Winchester. He is so good on this show, you cannot imagine how good he is on this show. He’s funny, he’s charming. Has such a gift for physical comedy, and can give real emotion to the melodrama. And the chemistry. He can play off of anyone!
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester is one of TV’s greatest leading men performances, I put it up there with Cranston’s Walter White, Louis-Dreyfus’s Selina Meyer, Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano, Margulies’s Alicia Florrick. I know, I know, this is an insane opinion. But those performances carried shows, they could have only been played by the actors who played them. They’re the kind of performances TV shows are built around, take him out and the whole thing falls apart6.
I get that part of the problem with Jensen Ackles, is well, that he’s Jensen Ackles. He’s a white guy in his forties from Texas who named his kids Zepplin and Arrow. Is Jensen Ackles very likely the reason they didn’t let Dean be gay7? Almost certainly. He wants to be seen as this all American, macho, rough and tumble guy and I get that it works for him.
Can someone get me in contact with his agent?? He needs to be doing more then this! Jensen please, I know you have it in you. Play a best friend in a movie produced by Judd Apatow, play a love interest on Emily in Paris, do a bit part on Hacks, let yourself be a character actor! You can do it! I believe in you!
Sorry for all the Supernatural content this week, lmao. Give me a platform to talk about it and I won’t shut the fuck up! I think this will get it out of my system though. None of this for next week, even though I will almost certainly continuing my rewatch. The show has fifteen seasons after all.
Challenge me on this, whatever, Miss Flo is undeniable !
I guarantee aO3 is being flooded with fanfics of this very premise as we speak
I am rooting for Zendaya and Tom Holland for the record. I think of any of them they could make it work. They’re both child stars, who are a bit more private and have strong relationships with their families. I’m trying to believe in love again!
God, Elmo eat Jimmy Fallon up! Roast him! Destroy his entire comedy career in 7 minutes! They probably gave Elmo his own late night show after this clip proves even he can do it better then Jimmy Fallon!!! (but also couldn’t we all?)
For the record, if you have not seen this show, you should watch it ASAP. It’s quick and short and just perfect. These two brothers get lost in a mystical forest Halloween night and have to find their way back home. And it’s laugh out loud hilarious. Perfect, perfect television.
Yes, yes I know Jared Padalecki was also there too. People will argue you need both of them for the to work. Sure, whatever. But Padalecki’s most famous role is still as Rory’s worst boyfriend. Ackles was running circles around him by season 2.
We are coming up on the four year anniversary of when they did Destiel. It is coincidentally, election day lmao. Plan accordingly! I remember this day so, so vividly. I, dear reader, watched that happen live. I was on twitter that night when it was trending above the goddamn presidential election. My roommate at the time said that I was quote “being too much” so she “couldn’t invite her friends over”. What a bitch!
The supernatural commentary 😂😂