Andrew Garfield‘s character may be rebelling against a king in The Uprising, but he says billionaires are the ones who should also be “scared shitless” by the film.
During a recent Q&A, alongside director Paul Greengrass, Garfield explained why he hopes the film serves as a warning to the world’s richest. The Uprising, based on the uprising that inspired the legend of Robin Hood, sees Garfield’s character Ploughman form an army against the tyranny of King Richard II in a fight for justice.
“First, I hope they come and see it, for first thing,” the Artificial actor said when asked what he hopes audiences take away from the movie. “But secondly, I hope it’s galvanizing. I hope there’s some awakening that people feel, that they feel that their own, that we all feel like our own struggles are being reflected in the struggles of these characters from a distant time and place, and that it could be directive. And I hope that if any billionaires watch it, they’re scared shitless.”
The moderator later quoted one line from the film: “There will be no peace until we are healed.” In response, Greengrass noted the phrase is “true of today as it [was] 600 years ago, for sure.”
Garfield chimed in, adding, “I’m going to include the billionaires in that as well, because they’re the ones that might be the most soul sick. They’re the ones that might need the healing the most in a way.”
Though The Uprising is set in 14th-century England, the film’s themes about the abuse of power and dehumanization of the underclass seemed to resonate with Garfield.
“The truth of that period of time,” the two-time Oscar nominee told Esquire last month, “was that there were brutal conditions for working-class people, brutal taxation post-plague, incompetence in government, abusive practices, with the underclass being seen as sub-human creatures from the perspective of those in power.”
When asked whether those conditions could pertain to today’s world, Garfield said, “Yeah, here and in the United States, and all around the world.”
“One of the things that’s cool about this film is that it’s a bit of a Rorschach Test,” he continued. “A lot of differently politically aligned people will go, ‘Oh, it’s me!’ We get into really dicey territory — and to not see the [British far-right activist] Tommy Robinson stuff as anything but despicable is just ignorant — but I’m sure a bunch of people will look at this film and go, ‘England first! What about us?’ It’ll be very interesting in that regard.”
He later added, “What was inspiring and exciting in the making of [the film] was this possibility of justice, this possibility of healing.”
The Uprising hits theaters on Sept. 10.