Andrew Garfield has roasted author JK Rowling as ‘she that shall remain nameless’ and explained why he thinks engaging with the Harry Potter franchise has become ‘controversial’ in a revealing recent interview.
Speaking to Hits Radio, the Hacksaw Ridge star, 42, gave his honest opinion on the never-ending discourse surrounding the children’s fantasy series and its author’s controversial opinions on gender that are often described as being anti-trans.
While he compared Rowling to her villain Voldemort, ‘He who shall not be named’, the British-American actor struck a much more conciliatory tone when he spoke about the series of films beloved by children and adults around the world.
Garfield shared that he had only recently watched the films for the first time, but pointed to Rowling’s comments about gender and explained why he thought it was ‘controversial’ for people to continue engaging with the world of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley.
Andrew Garfield was not afraid to share his views on JK Rowling’s political opinions (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
He started by sharing his appreciation for the quality of the eight films made between 2001 and 2011 that launched the franchise and its three main stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, to global stardom.
Garfield said in the interview: “I hadn’t watched the Harry Potters until recently … and he’s [Daniel Radcliffe] really good in those Harry Potter movies. Those Harry Potter movies are really good.”
But while he had a lot of praise for the film series, Garfield added that he was aware that engaging with Rowling’s universe of teenage witches and wizards had become a cultural and political dividing line, adding ‘I know it’s, like, controversial’.
With a Harry Potter reboot set to be released this Christmas by HBO, the Amazing Spider-Man star then argued that you could not separate Rowling and her financial support for organizations opposing trans rights from the massively successful franchise she created.
Garfield said: “We shouldn’t be, you know, putting money in the pocket of inhumane legislation right now through she that shall remain nameless.”
This was in reference to the billionaire writer’s financial backing for an anti-trans campaigning group in Scotland that brought a series of legal challenges before the UK Supreme Court, which eventually ruled that any mentions of ‘women’ or ‘sex’ in British law could only refer to people born biologically female.
However, the actor only said this to caveat his own enjoyment of the Harry Potter films, which he argued were a testament to the incredible talent of some of the movie industry’s greatest artists and not just Rowling’s writing.
Reflecting on his recent viewing, he shared: “But the soul and the spirit of a lot of the essence of the themes of those films, and all the artisans and craftspeople…
“I’m working with a wonderful make-up artist, Claire, right now who was working in the creature workshop. I feel like, oh man, we can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are so many beautiful artists that worked on those films.”
Despite all the discourse that surrounds the once uncontroversial kids fantasy series, Garfield added that watching the films for the first time had given him ‘a newfound appreciation for all of the artists’ involved.
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