The co-star who almost killed Andrew Garfield: “Oh fuck, that’s crazy”
Riley Keough’s racked up some impressive credits – The House That Jack Built, Magic Mike, Mad Max: Fury Road – but let’s face it, most folks still clock her as Elvis Presley’s granddaughter before anything else.
It’s hardly surprising, though. I mean, when your grandad is the Elvis Presley, that kind of legacy doesn’t exactly fade into the background. She could sweep the Oscars every year, and people would still lead with the Presley connection. That said, in a strange twist of fate, she might’ve also been known for something far less glamorous: nearly killing Andrew Garfield.
Keough starred opposite the former Spider-Man in A24’s Under the Silver Lake, a film that’s as bizarre as it is gripping. Garfield plays a directionless layabout who thinks he’s onto something big after meeting a mysterious young woman (Keough), only for her to vanish without a trace the next morning – and suddenly, he’s smack in the middle of something far murkier. Death is a major theme in the film, sure, but things almost took a genuinely dark turn off-camera, too.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Keough recalled how she was getting ready for her first kissing scene with the Englishman. She was eating a granola bar that she’d gotten from catering, which caught the eye of one of the makeup artists. When Keough confirmed that the bar contained peanuts, all hell broke loose.
“It was actually very stressful,” Keough recalled. “The producer came in and was like, ‘Riley, Andrew’s very allergic to peanuts and we have to shut the set down. And they shouldn’t have been at craft [catering], and I don’t know why they’re on set.’ I was just kind of like, ‘Oh fuck, that’s crazy.’ But also thank God that this woman caught it, because I had no idea.”
Peanut allergies are no joke, and it goes without saying that, if Keough had kissed Garfield, things could have gone very badly. The deceptively old Brit has spoken in the past about an incident on the set of Never Let Me Go. Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan had to accompany him to hospital after he ate something he didn’t agree with at dinner. If Keough had gone through with the kiss, that would have made the third famous and desirable actor to give Garfield anaphylactic shock, which has got to be some sort of record.
Considering it’s one of the most widespread allergies in the United States, with roughly 2% of the population suffering, it’s no surprise that a number of other famous faces also can’t handle peanuts. Kelly Clarkson is allergic to them, among many other things, as is Serena Williams. Bill Hader almost died backstage at Saturday Night Live after he accidentally ate a piece of chocolate with peanuts in it.
He then went on to lend his voice to the mascot of the food company Hornel, who is called, you guessed it, ‘Mr. Peanut’. Not sure if that’s some bizarre form of revenge or just straight-up masochism.
The star of The Social Network luckily didn’t meet his maker that day, but it just goes to show how easily these sorts of accidents can happen. Stay alert, everyone.
