Andrew Garfield recalls emotional 'Spider-Man' fan encounter in hotel lift

Andrew Garfield recalls meeting emotional 'Spider-Man' fan in Denver hotel lift and reveals his own starstruck moment

Andrew Garfield has recalled meeting an emotional Spider-Man fan in a hotel lift in Denver, describing the encounter as a “very, very sweet” moment.

The actor, 43, shared the story during an exclusive interview with PEOPLE while discussing his upcoming film, The Magic Faraway Tree.

Garfield explained that he had stayed at an airport hotel during a layover when he encountered two women attending a conference.

One of them was wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt and appeared surprised when she recognised him.

“And this one young lady — probably in her 20s or 30s — was wearing a Spider-Man T-shirt, and she looked at me like I was some kind of mirage. And she said, 'Is it you? Is it you? … Are you Spider-Man?'”

Garfield responded with a joke about his time playing the superhero. “I was like, 'I once was when I was younger, yes. Twice was, three times was.'”

He said the woman became “a little bit teary-eyed” after realising she was sharing the lift with the actor. The pair went on to have what Garfield described as a “lovely conversation”.

“She was very cool. She was very chill, but she was sweet, very, very sweet,” he recalled.

Garfield added that he heard a “delightful kind of squeal” from the lift after he left, suggesting the encounter had made a lasting impression on the fan.

The actor played Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), before returning to the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), alongside Tom Holland and Tobey Maguire.

During the interview, Garfield also discussed his own experiences of meeting people he admires, naming Woody Harrelson as someone who still leaves him “starstruck”.

Garfield recalled playing basketball with Harrelson and their respective groups of friends, explaining that his excitement affected his performance.

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

Garfield described the experience as “brutal”, but called it “a small price to pay” for playing basketball with one of his heroes.