Andrew Garfield thinks the film industry needs "more original material".
The 33-year-old actor stars as Desmond Doss in Mel Gibson’s recently released true story ‘Hacksaw Ridge’, and has said the key to getting the 60-year-old filmmaker to create more movies is to come up with new content that "hits deep into the human condition".
He said: "I think [Mel] is so discerning in the stories that he wants to tell. He’s obviously a devoted filmmaker, and if he’s going to go to work on something for two to three years it’s got to have the emotional capacity and possibility that a story like Desmond Doss’ story has.
"So I just think we need more original material that actually hits deep into the human condition and offers something to an audience that goes beyond popcorn munching and numbness. He wants to wake an audience up and make them feel themselves, and feel grateful for the lives they’re living."
‘Hacksaw Ridge’ tells the story of Desmond during the bloodiest battle of World War II where he saved 75 men without firing or carrying a single gun, making him the only American soldier in the war to fight on the front lines without a weapon.
But the story told in ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ is less "absurd" than what actually happened, according to Andrew.
He added to Collider.com: "For me, the character of Desmond is stranger than fiction. There was stuff that he did in the battlefield that we couldn’t put in the film because it would have been absurd. After he stepped on the grenade and his leg gets blown off – that actually happened – he’s carried on the stretcher.
"But in reality what happened is he saw another wounded guy, rolled off the stretcher, crawled over to the wounded guy, started treating his wounds and then said ‘Give this guy the stretcher, I’ll crawl back, he’s in worse shape than me.’
"And he starts crawling, grabs a gun and uses it as a splint on his arm, gets shot up on the way back. It’s crazy what he did, it’s insane. It’s insane, literally insane."
Andrew Garfield: The film industry needs ‘more original material’
