Andrew Garfield finally got the basketball game he had wanted for years, only to discover that playing opposite Woody Harrelson was considerably more intimidating than imagining it. During a September 29 appearance on Amy Poehler’s Good Hang podcast, Garfield recalled joining Harrelson and friends for a game.
Garfield had a particular reason to be excited. He said he had been a fan of Harrelson for years and considers the 1992 basketball comedy White Men Can’t Jump one of his all-time favorite movies, with Harrelson giving one of his favorite performances.
The admiration became a problem once the game actually started. “I fully froze and folded,” Garfield said, admitting that he played “really badly” and felt like a 7-year-old at a party who suddenly wanted to go home. Entertainment Weekly reported that Garfield was still jokingly apologizing to everyone who had been on the court with him.
Harrelson apparently gave him little opportunity to settle down. Garfield said the 65-year-old actor still plays well and remains “fiercely competitive,” a quality he said he loved even though his own nerves prevented him from showing what he thought he could do.
Garfield Had Just Called Basketball One of His Strengths
Garfield’s performance was especially painful to him because basketball came up as he and Poehler were discussing things he believed he was good at. Garfield said he loves basketball and thought he was a pretty capable player before the Harrelson game gave him reason to reconsider that assessment.
He told Poehler that he grew up in a competitive household and genuinely loves games, adding that he can sometimes become too invested because he believes players should actually try to win.
By the end of the story, Garfield had turned the disappointing performance into a joke at his own expense. Basketball had entered the conversation as something he thought might qualify as a hidden talent, after describing what happened with Harrelson, he concluded that the talent might be gone or perhaps was “never” there in the first place.
‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Made Harrelson a Different Kind of Opponent
Garfield’s nerves also carried decades of movie fandom onto the court. In Ron Shelton’s White Men Can’t Jump, Harrelson played Billy Hoyle opposite Wesley Snipes’ Sidney Deane, two basketball hustlers working the courts of Los Angeles. Disney+ lists the original film as a 1992 sports comedy starring Harrelson and Snipes.
Garfield told Poehler that he had wanted to play with Harrelson for a long time because of that performance. Instead of relaxing once the opportunity finally arrived, he said the reality of sharing a court with somebody he had watched and admired for years sent him straight into a freeze response.
Garfield was complimentary about Harrelson’s current ability, saying he “still plays great” and takes good care of himself. He also joked that Harrelson should protect his knees, before immediately acknowledging that the older actor clearly remains capable of keeping up on the court. He called him “fiercely competitive” and said he genuinely loved that trait.