For ‘Breathe’ star Andrew Garfield, the disabled are true superheroes

“Lessons in humility are always good, especially for ego-centric actors,” “Breathe” star Andrew Garfield said with a sly smile. “But playing Robin Cavendish in this film gave me a lot of good lessons in humility — especially when I actually met a number of people living with the condition Robin did.”

The actor was referring to the research he conducted in London — talking to individuals seriously paralyzed, as was the case with Cavendish, after he was stricken with polio at age 28 in Kenya in the early 1950s. At that time, polio victims were warehoused in hospital wards, hooked up to breathing apparatuses which kept them alive for the short time they generally survived after diagnosis.

Produced by Cavendish’s son, Jonathan Cavendish and directed by “The Hobbit” and “Planet of the Apes” star Andy Serkis, “Breathe” traces how Cavendish, aided by his amazing wife Diana (played by “The Crown” star Claire Foy), revolutionized the way the severely disabled could lead their lives. Cavendish and his longtime friend, a brilliant Oxford University professor (Hugh Bonneville), figured out a way to construct a wheelchair with a built-in ventilator — allowing the disabled to be mobile.

As the “Amazing Spider-Man” star met disabled individuals, he became aware of rehabilitation facilities around the globe — including in Chicago. “I understand you have an amazing place in your city,” said the actor, referring to the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab — formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. “I’ve been told that is one of the best such hospitals in the world. Hopefully, on a future visit to Chicago, I can go there and see what they are doing.”

Robin died in 1994, more than four decades later than originally expected.

“Both Robin and Diana were remarkable people,” Garfield said during our interview at the Toronto International Film Festival. “They figured out something about dealing with a catastrophic event. Through terrible loss — and by living through it — they incorporated that loss into their spirit. Humor played a huge role. But, in addition, they came to understand that one has to surrender to the chaos of life and in so doing managed to find sincere joy. It’s a pretty amazing template of how to live.”

For Serkis, his close relationship with both Jonathan and Diana Cavendish “obviously was an immense help in making this film as accurately as possible.” Yet, if he could have had the chance to know Robin Cavendish, Serkis said there would have one thing he would have loved to ask him.

“I just would have loved to dig into his well-documented sense of humor. When you’re living with that amount of disability, how do you come to choose life and to have the ability to laugh and joke about things that would make many weep uncontrollably? Living with the intensity of knowing that if that machine keeping you alive should fail — within two minutes you’d be dead.

“How do you cope with that?” said Serkis.