Andrew Garfield, a veteran actor, opens up about method acting and shares a challenging but rewarding experience in a previous role.

In a recent episode of the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” the “The Amazing Spider-man” star discussed his method acting experience and how it helped shape him for previous roles.

The 39-year-old actor recalled when he started out with method acting and revealed that he spent a year studying Catholicism and meditating, which he learned from Father James Martin-a Jesuit priest and writer. He went through this 6-month training for his role as a Jesuit priest in the 2016 film “Silence.”

Garfield said:

“It was very cool, man. I had some pretty wild, trippy experiences from starving myself of sex and food at that time.”

To say that the “Under the Banner of Heaven” actor was irritated by method acting criticism is an understatement. The actor also took to “WTF with Marc Maron” to vent about people who misunderstand art.

Method acting has been criticized by a number of notable actors, including Robert Pattinson, who told Jennifer Lopez that the technique only works “when they’re playing a-holes.” In the meantime, Mads Mikkelsen told GQ that method acting is “pretentious.”

Garfield had ranted about the misunderstanding of acting technique:

“I’m kind of bothered by the misconception, I’m kind of bothered by this idea that ‘method acting is fucking bullshit.’ No, I don’t think you know what method acting is if you’re calling it bullshit, or you just worked with someone who claims to be a method actor who isn’t actually acting the method at all.”

Garfield announced in April that he would be leaving Hollywood for a while due to lifestyle changes and adjustments he had to make to his acting technique. He specifically stated that he needed to feel “ordinary for a while.”

Andrew Garfield’s most recent role was as Detective Jeb Pyre in “Under the Banner of Heaven.” The mini-series premiered on April 28 and is available on FX and Hulu.