Andrew Garfield plans to 'free himself from the shackles'

Andrew Garfield plans to spend his downtime playing basketball and going swimming.

The 43-year-old actor has enjoyed an especially busy year in 2026, starring in The Magic Faraway Tree, The Uprising and Artificial, and Andrew is now looking forward to some well-earned time off.

The Hollywood star told Esquire UK: "I’m going to play basketball, and I’m going to go swimming, and I’m going to be. Just be. And I’m going to remember that I don’t always have to be ‘on’, performing. And I’m going to think about how to live.

"That’s the thread now; that feels like the narrative. How do we not only survive in this very polarised, financially differentiated, resource-scarce time, when an empire is at its hilt, maybe pre-falling? How do we free ourselves from the shackles?"

Andrew explained how his real-life attitude related to The Uprising, his latest film project.

He said: "That’s what The Uprising’s about. How do we free ourselves from an oppressive society and a set of systems and structures that doesn’t want us free?

"So, yeah. I’ll have a swim, and I’ll think about that. That sounds like heaven to me. And then I’ll take action."

Meanwhile, Andrew starred alongside Florence Pugh in We Live in Time, the romantic drama film, in 2024, and the actor previously admitted that he initially felt "really scared" about working with the actress.

He told People: "I was really scared. I think we were both really scared and nervous because it takes a while to get to know someone.

Despite his fame and success, Andrew admitted that he can be "quite shy and quite protective" when he meets someone for the first time and it often takes a while for him to feel truly comfortable in their presence.

He said: "I am someone, who on first meeting someone, I can be quite shy and quite protective and it takes me a while to really let someone know me. But then, when they're in, there's no getting out."