The former "Social Network" co-stars reunite to share their take on social media, and the time Andrew Garfield found himself in Justin Timberlake's trailer -- and why he couldn't quite bring himself to leave right away.
It was her first-ever major film role and they did not share a single scene together, but nevertheless Dakota Johnson and Andrew Garfield forged a very sweet friendship in the twelve years since they both featured in David Fincher's "The Social Network."
As part of their "Reunited" series, Vanity Fair brought the two together to chat about their careers and the projects they've explored since then, including currently working with actor-directors (Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Lost Daughter" for Johnson and Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Tick, Tick...Boom!" for Garfield), as well as their time atop massive franchises ("Fifty Shades" and "Amazing Spider-Man").
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View StoryThe two were absolutely charming as they ribbed one another and talked as actors enjoying the fruits of their labors, at the top of their game and with some real perspective after all that they've endured throughout their careers, from indie films to pop culture juggernauts.
But the funniest story was also the most random one, when they were reminiscing about how they actually first got to know one another. Despite not sharing a scene in the 2010 film about the rise of Facebook, Johnson recalled sharing a table with Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg.
While they remembered one another fondly from that exchange, Johnson said that Eisenberg didn't acknowledge her at all. Garfield suspected he was still in character as the socially awkward Mark Zuckerberg, but Johnson joked that maybe he was "distracted by beauty."
"Distracted by your beauty," Garfield agreed.
His real memory of connecting with her on a more meaningful level came later, though, at an industry party. "I think it was at the Oscars or something," he recalled. "You were just so lovely and energetic and excited to connect, I think that’s the first time we--"
"Wow, I don’t remember that," Johnson interjected. "I can’t believe you remember that."
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View Story"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah," Garfield replied. And then after a wicked little pause, he added, "I was sober."
As she turned to the camera with a classic look, he laughed, "There's no insinuation. There's no implication that I'm making."
"It feels like there was," she laughed in response. And there totally was. Johnson admitted as much that she'd "probably get a little drunk" at these parties. But it was while she was a little drunk that she would play the most randomly brilliant party trick we've ever heard of.
"That was when--I think people still do this--but Mark Townsend, who’s here and does my hair, used to put pieces of hair in my hair to make it look full," she explained. So what would she do after imbibing? "just take them out and put them in people’s pockets, like men's jacket pockets."
When Garfield asked the obvious question of why she targeted men's jacket pockets, Johnson's logical reply, "Because they're so available."
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View StoryAnother great exchange came when Garfield shared when an unexpected error created an unexpected availability for him that he proved unable to resist. It turns out that he accidentally wound up in Justin Timberlake's trailer at one point instead of his own.
Garfield admitted that he is an unabashed fan of Timberlake and so when he saw a board there with notes pinned to it, and different takes and what he called "homework."
"You were like, 'Oh no, I should leave,' but you didn’t," Johnson offered. "You read all of it."
"I was like, 'Oh, I must leave and as I leave, I must let my eyes linger for as long as possible as I leave,' because I mean, of course, because it’s just there and thank God it wasn’t anything bad. It was only cool."
"That is f----- up. I can’t believe you did that. I hope he watches this interview," Johnson joked, quickly adding. "Actually, I hope he never sees this interview."
Just as quickly, as Garfield wrapped up his story, Johnson agreed that it was probably a pretty cool moment, and then said his reaction was totally understandable.
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View Story"I’ve gone on a roller coaster you just took me on," Garfield shot back. "You shamed me and then you were excited for me and now you’ve accepted my humanity."
"I'm a woman," was her only reply.
"Yeah. You are."
Circling back to social media, perhaps inevitably, Johnson opined, "I don’t think they’ve necessarily helped people, humanity. Do you think that social media is mostly good or mostly bad?"
"I don’t know. I lean towards get rid of it," Garfield replied. "What I find interesting, and it goes back to Facebook and Zuckerberg and all of the individuals who have created these technologies and platforms that the majority of humanity are now spending time interacting through, I think you can find the dysfunction that gets created from these technologies, I think it’s all the rotten head of the fish."
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View Story"So, I think Zuckerberg’s obviously a man that has struggled to connect with people in an emotionally intelligent, deep way and he’s created a whole thing where all of that trickiness that he experiences is now spread between everyone," he continued. "So, there’s this terrible superficial connection that’s happening that is limiting how we can actually relate."
"Can you imagine if the pull quote, the headline from this interview is, 'Andrew Garfield Calls Mark Zuckerberg a Rotten Fish?'" Johnson laughed.
You can check out their full discussion above, including what makes it special working with actors-turned-directors, as well as why Garfield hopes to work with Gyllenhaal someday and Johnson thinks Miranda would never want to work with her.
They also talk about how they handle fame and people coming up to them on the street. Spoiler alert: Garfield has absolutely no problem lying to people and telling them he's not "Andrew Garfield."
For him, it all depends on the energy with which people are approaching him. Are they looking for Andrew Garfield, the man, or this larger-than-life "Andrew Garfield" persona that doesn't really exist.