Andrew Garfield And Stephen Colbert Had A Lovely Discussion About Grief That Will Make You Emotional

In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut tick, tick… BOOM!, Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson, the lyricist and composer of Rent who died the same day as his musical’s first public performance. The film is dedicated to his memory, and during Monday’s episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert asked the Oscar-nominated actor, who recently lost his mother, about “how art itself helps you deal with grief.”

Garfield took a second to compose himself before answering. “I love talking about it, by the way, so if I cry, it’s… only a beautiful thing,” he said. “This is all the unexpressed love. The grief that will remain with us until we pass because we never get enough time with each other, right?” He said that he “got to sing Jonathan Larson’s unfinished song while simultaneously singing for my mother and her unfinished song. And I’m indebted to John, and I’m indebted to Lin-Manuel Miranda, I’m indebted to everyone who’s brought me to this place so I can honor the most beautiful person that I’ve ever experienced in my life through my art and use it as a way to heal, use it as a way to sew up the wounds.” The tears were flowing from “one of the most gorgeous outlooks on grief” ever.

You can watch the full interview above, and watch tick, tick… BOOM! on Netflix.