Andrew Garfield has revealed that Robert Redford showed up four hours late to the set of their 2007 film Lions for Lambs, but described the late Hollywood legend as a pleasure to work with.
The 43-year-old actor made the admission while promoting his upcoming Peasants’ Revolt film The Uprising, which was bizarrely marketed as a Robin Hood origin story partway through its release.
Garfield recalls nerves on first major film
During an appearance on Amy Poehler’s podcast, Garfield recalled working with the late All the President’s Men star on the wartime thriller, which also starred Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep, with Redford pulling double duty in the director’s seat too.
Garfield recalled being in his early twenties when making the film and hugely apprehensive about taking direction from the famed actor, saying on the Good Hang podcast: ‘I’m terrified and nervous and pinching myself.
‘Then Bob is four hours late, and it’s just like by that time I’m just pissed. I’m just angry.’
Redford's casual approach won Garfield over
But Garfield went on to credit the Oscar-winner, saying of the actor, who died last year aged 89: ‘A lot of the nerves had kind of dissipated because he was so loose and casual.
‘He still dressed like he was in his twenties with a double denim. He wasn’t aware that he was late. He was just on his own Redford time.
‘He was a beautiful, beautiful man – and very late all the time to everything.’
Poehler joked of Redford’s lateness: ‘Well, God is fair – I mean, he’s so handsome there’s got to be something wrong with him.’
Redford made Garfield feel like an equal
Garfield went on to recall how collaborative an actor Redford proved to be on the film, saying: ‘He would shoot himself, and then he would look at me after his first take, and he’d be like, “What do you think?”
‘And I was like, “It’s great. Really good, Robert Redford.”
‘He made me feel like it was my set and made me feel like I was an equal and like he knew it was my first movie. He was so nice. He was so beautiful.’
The Hollywood star and campaigner, most famous for roles in films including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, died in September last year at his home in Utah. His death was announced in a statement by Cindi Berger, chief executive of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan PMK. No specific cause of death was given.
