Andrew Garfield says Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were America's first reality show couple

The once and maybe future Spider-Man says once you let cameras into your private life, you can never get them out

By Marah Eakin  |  September 17, 2021 | 5:00pm
Film Features Tammy Faye
Andrew Garfield says Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were America's first reality show couple
Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes Of Tammy Faye Photo: Searchlight Pictures

Andrew Garfield knows a little thing about keeping your public and private lives separate. The star of The Eyes Of Tammy Faye has gone to great lengths to keep prying eyes out of his personal business, even eschewing social media.

He does love a good reality TV show, though, as evidenced by his stellar appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K., and in a recent interview he did with Variety, he said that Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker were America’s first reality show couple. The A.V. Club asked him what he meant by that in a recent video interview.

As you’ll see in the clip above, Garfield’s statement stems from, as he puts it, “a moment in the film where it’s the Jim And Tammy Show early in their career. Tammy tells Jim for the first time that she’s pregnant, they’re going to have a baby and it happens to be live on TV.” He continues:

“I don’t feel that that kind of thing had really started to happen, those very private moments, those sacred moments that people share in that sacred space being broadcast live for the rest of the world to share… In the moment, Jim is unsure about how to react because there’s a kind of affront. He’s in public mode and then suddenly there’s a private thing that’s happening. There’s a confusion like he’s a short-wiring. “How do I deal with this? I’m so happy, but also slightly self-conscious. Is it okay that we’ve done this in front of an audience? I guess it is, because they seem to love it. They seem happy for us. Are they? Or maybe we’re all family.” So suddenly it becomes this strange, boundary-less life and personal, private, and public performative reality. Suddenly the lines get obliterated. And I think the world’s never been the same since then”

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye hits theaters this weekend. You can read our review of the movie, which we gave a B, right here.

 
Join the discussion...