Andrew Garfield says he hopes his new film “The Uprising” leaves billionaires unsettled, telling an audience Thursday night that he wants the wealthiest viewers to walk away “scared shitless.” Garfield made the comment during a Q&A with director Paul Greengrass at a screening event at AMC The Grove in Los Angeles, ahead of the film’s September 11 theatrical release.
“The Uprising,” written and directed by Greengrass and produced by Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, dramatizes England’s 1381 Peasants’ Revolt, the rebellion against a punishing tax under King Richard II that became the historical basis for the Robin Hood legend. Garfield plays Ploughman, a fictional farmer who joins the uprising, while Cosmo Jarvis portrays the historical rebel leader Wat Tyler and Woody Norman plays the king. The cast also includes Jamie Bell, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston and Tom Hollander.
Asked what he hoped audiences would take from the film, Garfield said he wanted the story to feel galvanizing, so that viewers recognize their own struggles reflected in the rebellion depicted on screen. He then extended that hope specifically to billionaires. When the moderator raised a line from the film, “There will be no peace until we are healed,” Greengrass said the sentiment applies as much today as it did six centuries ago. Garfield added that he considered billionaires included in that need for healing, calling them among the most soul sick and most in need of it.
The remarks drew swift pushback online, with critics noting Garfield’s own wealth and the studio backing behind his films. Spencer Pratt, a former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, questioned whether Garfield meant to include the billionaires who finance his projects and pay his salary, pointing out that Garfield recently earned roughly five million dollars playing tech billionaire Sam Altman in the film “Artificial.” Rick Davis, an associate pastor in Lynchburg, Virginia, said his early enthusiasm for a film about Wat Tyler soured as Garfield’s comments continued.
Garfield has spoken previously about the parallels he sees between the brutal conditions of 14th-century England and modern inequality. He is set to appear at the New York Film Festival next month playing a billionaire in a separate project.
