Andrew Garfield gets affectingly real about acting, tells Stephen Colbert he fibbed his way into a musical
A real actor will lie for a good role, even to Lin-Manuel Miranda

Andrew Garfield is working his way up to a very busy and eventful back half of 2021. And while the actor’s first 2021 outing might have rightfully disappeared into the morass of pandemic streaming also-rans, it’s looking like future Oscar possibilities abound. First up, Garfield will strap into some award-baiting prosthetics and accent work as disgraced (but still shilling for the Lord and bogus COVID supplements), Jim Bakker, starring alongside an equally unrecognizable Jessica Chastain in director Mike Showalter’s The Eyes Of Tammy Faye. After that, the Under The Silver Lake star will show off his singing skills under the guidance of none other than In The Heights and Hamilton musical theater legend Lin-Manuel Miranda in the film adaptation of playwright Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick, BOOM!
As the actor danced out joyously to the cheers of Stephen Colbert’s returned Late Show crowd and the raucous intro music of Jon Batiste and Stay Human, Garfield was, indeed, hyped up to hype his pair of upcoming projects. But first, Garfield and Colbert talked Broadway shop about their shared admiration and love for the late impresario Mike Nichols, who famously directed the actor to a Tony nomination as Biff in the 2012, Phillip Seymour Hoffman-led Death Of A Salesman. Calling Nichols “ a hero to me,” Garfield regaled fellow Nichols acolyte Colbert with unsurprisingly poignant (and funny) tales of Nichols graciousness toward him and seemingly everyone who ever walked onto a Broadway stage. (The unnamed actress who received Nichols’ succinct praise, “You’re Audrey Hepburn!” after one performance can probably sleep well at night still.)