Andrew Garfield Says Jessica Chastain “Rearranged” ‘Eyes of Tammy Faye’ Filming So He Could See His Mother Before She Died
Andrew Garfield is recalling how Jessica Chastain ensured he got to spend time with his mother, Lynn Garfield, before she died of pancreatic cancer in 2019.
The actor recently expressed in an interview with People magazine that he will be forever “grateful” for his The Eyes of Tammy Faye co-star for her help during that difficult time.
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“What was amazing was that [Searchlight Pictures’ David Greenbaum] and Jessica rearranged the schedule last-minute — put filming on hold [in North Carolina] for a few days so that I could go back [to England] and be with my mom for 10 days,” he said.
Garfield added that he and Chastain “would have deep conversations because we were both getting to know each other as people. I’m really very grateful for that time with her because it was the time when my mum was really sick and ultimately passed away.”
The two actors starred in the 2021 biopic about the rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, who went on to create the world’s largest religious broadcasting network and a Christian theme park. Garfield portrayed Jim Bakker, opposite Chastain’s Tammy.
The We Live in Time star also remembered a “beautiful ritual” he and Christian had while filming the movie, where she would pick him up and they would drive to Heritage USA, the Bakker’s now-closed Christian theme park.
“Every Sunday, we would go down there,” Garfield told the outlet. “And it was a combination of trying to commune with the spirit of Jim and Tammy and the place where they set up their temple, in a way, to their god but also to themselves.”
Last month, The Amazing Spider-Man actor told The Hollywood Reporter that filming his latest film We Live in Time, opposite Florence Pugh, had been a healing experience following the death of his mother at age 69.
“Every species of every living thing on this earth has lost a mother. Young dinosaurs were losing their mothers,” he said at the time. “So in terms of my own personal experience, yeah, it felt like a very simple act of healing for myself, and hopefully healing for an audience.”
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