Andrew Garfield on His Sexuality: I Have an Openness to Any Impulses

Andrew Garfield is trying to live his life as openly as possible, he said in a new interview with Out magazine including when it comes to his sexuality.

The Angels in America actor explained that while he currently identifies as a heterosexual man, he is not shutting out the possibility of being attracted to men in the future.

Up until this point, Ive only been sexually attracted to women, he told the publication. My stance toward life, though, is that I always try to surrender to the mystery of not being in charge. I think most people were intrinsically trying to control our experience here, and manage it, and put walls around what we are and who we are.

Andrew Garfield: Gay Comment Taken Out of Context

I want to know as much of the garden as possible before I pass I have an openness to any impulses that may arise within me at any time, he continued. But, if I were to identify, I would identify as heterosexual, and being someone who identifies that way, and whos taking on this seminal role, my scariest thought was, Am I allowed to do this?'

Garfield is set to reprise his role as Prior Walter in the Broadway revival of Angels in America later this month, less than a year after adopting the role for the National Theatre production.

Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer-winning playwright behind Angels in America, told Out that he didnt have any qualms about Garfield being cast to play the role, despite being a heterosexual man.

I think its one of the most remarkable performances of a contemporary gay character by a straight guy Ive ever seen, Kushner said. In the United States, at any rate, you sometimes see a kind of nervousness among straight actors playing gay: Am I making the character too queen?; Is this a stereotype? Theres a certain misunderstanding that queenly behavior has to do with a kind of abjectness or weakness. But, of course, the opposite is true. And Andrew really grasped that instantaneously and ran with it.

Last summer, the Amazing Spiderman actor made headlines after he was quoted as saying that he was a gay man just without the physical act.

Many criticized the remark as insensitive and pandering to gay male stereotypes. He later clarified the intention of his comment during an interview with BBCs Newsbeat.

Thats of course not what I meant at all, he said at the time. That discussion was about this play and how deeply grateful I am that I get to work on something so profound. Its a love letter to the LGBTQ community. We were talking about, How do you prepare for something so important and so big? and I was basically saying, I dive in as fully as I possibly can.'