FOR Andrew Garfield, “The Social Network” is just the latest in a dizzying run of prestigious projects that mark him as a rising star.

    The 27-year-old Garfield is currently appearing in “Never Let Me Go” opposite Keira Knightley and next will play Spider-Man in the reboot of the superhero franchise, which begins shooting in December.

    “Every single generation of the comic, the cartoons and the movies, it all means a great deal to me,” said Garfield of the as-yet-untitled project.

    “It was always something that gave me hope as a skinny little kid whose sense of injustice about the world didn’t match his sense of strength about his body. I found it so inspiring and uplifting and reassuring. To be a part of that mythology and that legacy is a true honor.”

    He said it was a long audition process to get the Spidery role. “Honestly, I had no hope for it at all,” he adds. “Every young actor in the world wanted it.”

    Some wondered if an English Spidey would work, but that’s not the case for Garfield. “I was born in Los Angeles and raised by an American father and a British mother. Eventually, we moved to England. But I don’t feel disconnected from American society and pop culture. I feel quite connected.”

    Garfield described himself as a confused child growing up, introspective and dissatisfied at school until he did a student play at the encouragement of a teacher. He went on to drama school, did theater and television roles, then was cast by Robert Redford in his war-on-terror drama “Lions for Lambs” in 2007.

    He won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award for his starring role in the 2007 youth drama “Boy A” and co-starred in Heath Ledger’s final film, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.”

    “’Boy A’ was like, perfect. I couldn’t find any fault with it,” said “Never Let Me Go” director Mark Romanek. “I had seen ‘Lions for Lambs,’ and he’s stunning in that. He sits in there in a room and holds his own with Robert Redford, one on one, in half a dozen scenes.”

    In “Never Let Me Go,” which is based on the 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Garfield plays Tommy, a young man attending an idyllic English boarding school that is in a strange way “preparing” him for his future. “The film is wonderful because it can mean so many different things depending on what you believe about existence,” said Garfield. “At its heart, it’s a metaphysical story about the inevitability of death.”

    Hitting U.S. theaters this month is David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” in which Garfield plays Eduardo Saverin, the best friend and colleague of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

    Garfield was first spotted by “Social Network” producer Scott Rudin when he was performing in Walsh’s “Chatroom” in Ireland. That led to the chance to audition for “Social Network.”

    “I auditioned again and again, and that was kind of it,” he said. “I never really auditioned for Eduardo. I was reading generic scenes” for the lead character, Mark Zuckerberg.

    “But I had the feeling they were just trying to get a sense of who was right for what role, getting the essence of someone and what they brought to the scenes. The first time I ever read Eduardo out loud was at the first read-through. It was actually rather odd, since I thought I was reading for the Zuckerberg character, and I guess I never really was.”

    Saverin is central to the betrayals that separate the Facebook founders but it didn’t affect Garfield’s work. “I approach every role as if he’s a real person, flesh and blood,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)

‘Facebook is terrible’

    ANDREW GARFIELD has admitted that social networking Web site Facebook takes up too much of his time.

    The actor, who plays Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in “The Social Network,” explained his “unusual relationship” with the site while discussing his role.

    “I have an unusual relationship with Facebook. I love it, but I hate it at the same time,” said Garfield. “It takes far too much of my energy and time --- time I should be spending working or making myself a better person instead of looking at pictures of my friends having fun at great parties in London. It’s a terrible, terrible thing.”(SD-Agencies)

Garfield on the verge of stardom

    NOW, Andrew Garfield is cautiously approaching fame.

    “When you have a dream for so long, you have to match it up to reality,” he said. “So far, the reality has been very much like the dream.”

    “I love being an actor, and it’s very difficult to be a working actor because you’re constantly at the mercy of other people.”

    How does he feel about becoming famous?

    “I’m trying to just stay focused,” he said. “The idea of being world-famous terrifies me. Struggle is very important. It creates energy and action, and without that, it’s inertia. Notoriety is the last thing I’d like. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”(SD-Agencies)