Andrew Garfield, 43, said his ideal day off involves a lot of lying down and looking out the window.
Speaking on Monday’s episode of the “Smartless” podcast, the actor said he was happy to do very little after nearly a year of nonstop work.
“I can do it for a couple of months. I really can,” Garfield said.
He spent 11 months moving between dramatically different roles: Sam Altman in “Artificial,” a grieving farmer who leads a rebellion against King Richard II in “The Uprising,” and magician Roy Horn in the upcoming Apple TV+ series “Wild Things.”
Constantly switching between the characters felt disorienting, he said.
“You get to the point sometimes where you’re so deeply resentful of the work that you love to do so much, and that’s kind of where I’m at,” Garfield said.
By the end of it, Garfield said he was ready to take a break, adding that some of his favorite ways to unwind include reading books, watching “dumb TV,” and “literally looking out” the window.
“I have a lovely window in my house, and there’s a beautiful tree that I just stare at,” he said.
“Again, it’s like the most valuable commodity outside of live performance is quiet, and time, and space, and not having our attention snatched by the things that are always snatching our attention,” he said.
Garfield said he also values time with friends and family, who help keep him grounded.
“One of the gifts of being raised the way I was is that it was made very, very clear to me by osmosis that there was no way that I could ever allow myself to drink my own Kool-Aid enough to lose myself,” he said.
That perspective has also made him more conscious of the personal cost of spending months away from home for a job.
“I’m thinking about that more as I get older. In my 20s and 30s, it was like, I’ll go anywhere any time, and I’ll devote myself to this in a way that’s probably a little unhealthy,” Garfield said.
But now, he feels that “time is ticking” and has become more aware that “it’s not forever,” he said.
Other celebrities have also spoken about how they enjoy their downtime.
Hilary Swank has said that exercise helps her decompress when she’s stressed.
“Ultimately, working out for me is about stress relief. I really like resistance training, and I try to do it twice a week. It really helps me cope with stress and I find it also makes me sleep better,” she told Business Insider in 2024.
Keke Palmer has said some of her favorite ways to unwind involve “doing things solo.”
“I love journaling, prayer, and any type of fitness, such as Pilates, yoga, and hiking. All of that stuff brings me immense joy,” she told Business Insider in 2025. “I love bingeing comfort TV. It doesn’t even have to be the most interesting thing.”
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