Andrew Garfield, Kathryn Hunter and national treasure Sheridan Smith

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [View in browser]( [The Independent]( February 05, 2022 [The Independent]( Written by Alexandra Pollard The IndyArts Newsletter Hello and welcome back to the Indy Arts Newsletter. We've run so many great pieces this week, it's hard to know where to start. [I loved this interview with Orange Is The New Black's Taylor Schilling](, who told my colleague Ellie Harrison: "I definitely observed that feeling of celebration shifting into resentment of Piper. It’s a difficult thing to not personalise that. I started to feel like my job in that show was just as a space-holder, to provide a steady middle so that other people could really shine.” Meanwhile, the legendary stage actor [Kathryn Hunter opened up, for the first time, about her suicide attempt 40 years ago]( – a story she ended by urging anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts to "get help, get help, get help". With roles in series like ‘The Teacher’ and ‘No Return’, Sheridan Smith is proving her extraordinary versatility as a performer (BBC/ITV/PA/The Independent) I also sung the praises of Sheridan Smith, [who has quietly become one of the best actors on British TV]( – or anywhere for that matter. If you watched Four Lives a few weeks ago, or The Teacher this week, you'll agree. [The Saturday Interview – Andrew Garfield]( [Oscars image]( Garfield says he’s most drawn to questions of faith and spirituality, and yet says ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ is ‘the least spiritual film I’ve ever done’ (Getty) This week’s Saturday Interview is with Andrew Garfield. The actor had to rush back to England during the filming of his new evangelical talk show host biopic when his mother’s cancer worsened. As it opens in cinemas, he and director Michael Showalter talked to James Mottram about love, death, humanity and yes, a bit of Spider-Man [Oscars image]( Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain in a scene from ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ (Searchlight Pictures/20th Century Studios) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… Garfield feels this hollow spiritualism has “seeped into every aspect of our lives”, notably with the rise of social media. “Young people [are] particularly feeling the need to prove their worth, or to feel a sense of belonging by exposing all of their private thoughts and images and lives through their social media channels and feeling left out if they don’t, feeling not included if they don’t. It’s a kind of epidemic of ‘not enough-ness’ that I think began decades ago that we’re really having to reckon with now, in terms of our ways of valuing ourselves and our ways of valuing each other.” Ironically, the actor feels that The Eyes of Tammy Faye is “the least spiritual film I’ve ever done”. In the past, in Mel Gibson’s wartime movie Hacksaw Ridge, he played a devout Seventh-day Adventist who refused to carry a weapon due to religious beliefs while serving as a combat medic. He was also a Jesuit priest in Martin Scorsese’s Silence. And his next project, Under the Banner of Heaven, is a true-crime story exploring the Mormon faith. “Questions of faith and spirituality… I guess that’s the part of the garden that I’m drawn to most,” he says. Certainly, Garfield was forced to examine life’s biggest questions during production of The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Before he accepted the job, he discovered that his mother, Lynn, had been diagnosed with cancer. She encouraged him to head to North Carolina to begin filming. He did so, but during the shoot, in late 2019, her condition worsened. Garfield pays tribute to the “generosity” of those on the set. “When I said my mum has just gone into hospice care, and I have to go, they didn’t hesitate. And they shut down production for me. And I still find that deeply moving,” he says. [Read the full interview here]( What to binge this week [Oscars image]( ‘Station Eleven’, a show that might not immediately present itself as one fo the best shows of the 21st century, but one that certainly deserves to be a part of that discussion (HBO Max) [Station Eleven]( "Forget the glossy [Netflix]( hits and [HBO]( dramas – the TV show that’s most worthy of your time has been snuck onto [Starzplay]( in the UK," writes my colleague Jacob Stolworthy. "Adapted by Maniac’s Patrick Somerville from Emily St John Mandel’s 2014 novel, the series starts amid a flu pandemic that wipes out 99.99 per cent of the world’s population." The first few episodes, he warns, are boldly jarring, but you just have to trust you’re in safe hands. Out and about [Freud and China – Freud Museum London]( The first exhibition to explore Sigmund Freud’s fascination with China and, in particular, the collection of Chinese objects the (in)famous psychoanalyst amassed and placed close to him on his desk and in the direct eyeline of his patients. Buy tickets [here]( [Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks – The Royal Court]( As its title may suggest, Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks is not for the faint-hearted. Written and performed by Sarah Hanly, it’s the story of Saoirse Murphy, a young girl desperate to escape from the confines of her Irish Catholic girls school, where she’s told that being perved at by letchy male teachers is part of life and that she can’t be a lesbian because she’s got blonde hair. Buy tickets [here]( [A Number – The Old Vic]( Caryl Churchill’s 2002 play, directed in this new production by Lyndsey Turner, reads like a proto-Black Mirror. Written in the wake of Dolly the sheep, it is about a son (Paapa Essiedu) who discovers that he has been cloned from the firstborn of his father (Lennie James) and that he may be one of up to 20 clones, thanks to a feckless doctor. Buy tickets [here]( Essential reading [Who will host the 2022 Oscars?]( [Who will host the 2022 Oscars?]( [25 brilliant films that were huge box office flops]( [25 brilliant films that were huge box office flops]( [Cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins says knighthood is not just for him]( [Cinematographer Sir Roger Deakins says knighthood is not just for him]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's entertainment newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. If you do not want to receive The Independent's entertainment newsletter, please [unsubscribe](list_name=IND_Culture_Newsletter_CDP). If you no longer wish to receive any newsletters or promotional emails from The Independent, you can unsubscribe [here](. 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