Andrew Garfield didn't know when he signed on for 99 Homes that the indie would have such an impact on not only him, but on his family.
In the movie (in theaters now), Garfield plays a single father trying to win back his childhood home after losing it in foreclosure. In a desperate move, Garfield actually goes to work for the man (played perfectly evil by Michael Shannon) who evicted him from his house, which he shares with his mom (Laura Dern) and son (Noah Lomax).
Garfield opened up to E! News about relating to the storyline after seeing his parents face some big problems when he was younger. He didn't detail exactly what happened, but he did tell me, "When I was between the ages of 11 and 17, there was this tension in our house. There was this pressure. I could feel it subliminally even though the conversations were happening behind closed doors.
"So there was some strange healing that I was being called to do in being a part of this film," Garfield continued. "And I got a chance to talk to my dad about that specific period of time where I knew what was going on even though they were protecting me and my brother in all ways that they could."
Garfield called his father just before leaving to shoot 99 Homes in New Orleans. "We had like a five-hour [conversation] with tears…He finally was able to reveal to me what that period of time was, what he learned and what he gained from it," the former Spider-Man star said. "I was finally able to share how tense I was throughout that whole time."
99 Homes is the first time Garfield, 32, has played a father. "It was scary—really really really scary," he admitted. "I was really ill-prepared and then I realized, 'Oh, yes, that's fatherhood.'"