Andrew Garfield Recalls ‘Brutal’ Basketball Game with Woody Harrelson That Left Him ‘So Overwhelmed and Starstruck’ (Exclusive)

Toria Sheffield, Maya PowSat, October 10, 2026 at 11:30 AM UTC

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Andrew Garfield; Woody HarrelsonCredit: Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty; Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty -

Andrew Garfield recalled becoming so starstruck while playing pickup basketball with Woody Harrelson that he froze and “played really, really badly”

Garfield called the experience “brutal”

He said it was “a small price to pay for getting to actually be able to be on the court with one of my basketball and acting heroes”

Andrew Garfield says he once played a “brutal” game of pickup basketball with Woody Harrelson — and then thought about it for “weeks” after.

Garfield, 43, recently recalled the story while sharing the last time he felt starstruck during an exclusive interview with PEOPLE about his upcoming film The Magic Faraway Tree.

“I’m going to say [it was] Woody Harrelson, who I’ve known for a long time, but every time I see him, I still feel overwhelmed,” The Uprising star said.

He went on to say that he and Harrelson, 65, once ran into each other at a basketball court.

Andrew Garfield at the ‘Artificial’ premiere in N.Y.C. on Oct. 5, 2026Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty

“There was a pickup basketball game happening between our different groups of friends, and so we just happened to be there at the same time and we played basketball together,” the star explained.

The two-time Oscar nominee added that he had “always wanted to play basketball with Woody” because of his love for the movie White Man Can’t Jump, the 1992 sports comedy starring Harrelson and Wesley Snipes.

However, The AmazingSpider-Man star said that his nerves got the best of him.

“I was so excited, but I was so overwhelmed and starstruck that I froze, and I played really, really badly,” he recalled.

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“It was just so, so brutal,” he continued, before adding it was “a small price to pay for getting to actually be able to be on the court with one of my basketball and acting heroes.”

Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes in 1992’s ‘White Men Can’t Jump’Credit: Alamy

Garfield went on to say he often can’t predict how he’ll respond when he meets someone he admires in the flesh.

“I can be a fangirl/boy, or I just completely clam up and I go completely silent. I can’t make eye contact and I can’t find any words and I’m just mute,” he said.

“So either way, it’s uncomfortable,” he joked.

The star also shared that while he might still get nervous around certain celebrities, he still feels “cool” in at least one domain: being an uncle to his nephews. He added that spending time with them was the last time he truly felt like a kid.

“Playing … on the beach in Devon in the water, playing sports, swimming around, surfing, and talking nonsense with them while we ate fish and chips,” he told PEOPLE.

“I think I have been a version of a cool uncle,” he continued. “It might be shifting as they get older, and I’m cool with whatever — however — they see me as long as they want to see me …  If I become uncool to them, it’s not going to deter me from forcing myself into their days.”

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”