Exclusive: Andrew Garfield Reteaming With Mel Gibson In The Nightingale, Details Revealed
Andrew Garfield will star in a WWII movie titled The Nightingale, with Mel Gibson directing.
Andrew Garfield is working once again with controversial Hollywood star Mel Gibson for a new war movie titled The Nightingale. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Spider-Man actor will play a World War II-era man battling the Nazis, while Gibson will direct. It is not yet known whether Gibson will also appear in the movie with Andrew Garfield, but the two-time Academy Award winner does have experience in taking a simultaneous role in front of and behind the camera.
The Nightingale will star Andrew Garfield as a WWII resistance fighter risking his life against Nazis in order to save his fellow soldiers; it is currently unclear what nationality the former Sony Pictures Spider-Man will be portraying in the film, which will make a lot of difference to the narrative of the film. Given that he is being described as a “resistance fighter,” it could be that Andrew Garfield is playing a member of either the French or Polish insurgents against Nazi occupation, both of which are famed for their ferociousness against the invaders.
This will be the second WWII movie that Andrew Garfield and Mel Gibson have made together, following the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge. That film (which also saw the Mad Max star directing) chronicled the life of Desmond Doss, a combat medic and conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon, but was known for his bravery on the battlefield. Doss (portrayed by Garfield) was the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, among many other medals.
Hacksaw Ridge was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Andrew Garfield, and Best Director for Mel Gibson. It eventually won Oscars for Best Sound Mixing and Best Film Editing, and was nominated (and won) a number of Golden Globes and AACTA Awards. In addition to Andrew Garfield, the movie starred Sam Worthington (Avatar), Hugo Weaving (The Matrix), and Vince Vaughn (True Detective).
It is not surprising that Andrew Garfield would look to team up again with a director who netted him his first Academy Award nomination, but any new project that includes Mel Gibson tends to be scrutinized in light of his past controversies. Although the Braveheart star/director has been on a career rehabilitation path in recent years, the memory of his past behavior concerning alcohol, allegations of abuse, and anti-Semitic comments still linger in the public mind.
However, Mel Gibson seems to have been re-accepted by Hollywood enough to be starring in a John Wick spin-off titled The Continental (plus a new movie with 50 Cent), so another prestige war movie seems like a good step for him. For his part, Andrew Garfield will soon portray flamboyant billionaire Richard Branson in a film about conflicts between airline companies, and (a little more fantastically) will star in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming Frankenstein movie. The much-anticipated film will also star Oscar Isaac as the titular mad scientist and Mia Goth in an undisclosed role.
