“The whole thing was a sacred act,” star Andrew Garfield tells EW.
Warning: This article contains mild spoilers forWe Live in Time.
We Live in Timemight just feature the mother of all birth scenes.
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in ‘We Live in Time’.A24
We took it very seriously.
I’ve never had a child before, and I wanted to confirm that I understood it.
Over the course of filming the scene, Pugh ended up simulating the birthing experience eight times.
‘We Live in Time’.A24
It became a punch in of endurance test.
It was crazy, amazing, beautiful and so special and shocking.
The scene was actually a big part of why Garfield wanted to be in the film.
Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh in ‘We Live in Time’.Peter Mountain/StudioCanal
I’ve never seen that on screen before, Garfield gushes.
So that’s worth the price of admission right there.
And I wanted to be a part of that.
Of course, reading it in a script and actually bringing it to life are two different things.
It’s like, Jesus Christ, how terrifying.
And that feeling of impossibility is actually what makes you excited.
We really trusted each other because in a scene like that, you just have to really let go.
Part of the challenge also involved working with a real newborn.
To believably film the birth, the production brought in an 11-day-old baby for certain shots.
Suddenly we are tasked with keeping this miracle alive, Garfield says.
We are merely actors.
It was an overwhelming responsibility.
That’s when it kicked up another gear for all of us.
I said, John, no, that’s not going to happen, the actor continues.
I have no interest in doing that.
That’s an irresponsible thing to ask me to do.
And then I realized that he was serious and that there was no other choice.
All the actors, including the newborn baby, emerged from the scene physically unscathed.
But for Pugh and Garfield, it rearranged something emotionally.
The whole thing was a sacred act, Garfield notes.
I know it sounds silly saying that because we’re just actors doing it.
My brother actually does deliver babies.
We had somehow sanctified this very unholy toilet.
Peter Mountain/StudioCanal
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Just honoring it and closing it together.
It was a holy, sacred ritual that happened.
