The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield has been applauded for his role as a transgender woman in a new music video for the rock band Arcade Fire.
The powerful clip for the song We Exist, starts with an emotional Garfield preparing to go out; trying on clothes and putting on a bra and a blonde wig.
When he arrives at a bar, he longingly watches a couple dance before his character is attacked by a group of men.
The assault is interrupted by a fantastical dance sequence and leads to Garfield’s character walking onto the stage to join the band in a live performance at the Coachella music festival.
The song’s lyrics appear to be speaking of LGBTI people and experiences: “Daddy it’s true, I’m different from you; But tell me why they treat me like this?; You turn away, what could I say; Not the first betrayed by a kiss.”
Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler confirmed in a press release that We Exist is “about a gay kid talking to his dad.”
Garfield has previously expressed his support for the LGBTI community and same-sex marriage rights.
“Of course I’m in favour of marriage equality,” the 30-year-old British-American actor told the Times last year. “Same-sex couples should have the same rights as anybody else. There is no argument against equality. How can anyone argue against compassion and understanding?”
Watch Arcade Fire’s We Exist below.
