Andrew Garfield | Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Episode Overview

• Hosted and executive produced by Amy Poehler, this episode of the Good Hang podcast features an introductory conversation with Lin-Manuel Miranda followed by an in-depth interview with actor Andrew Garfield.
• The central inquiry explores what motivates Garfield's intense work ethic, how he prepares for demanding roles, and how his personal values—specifically "acts of service" and his relationship with his late mother—shape his life and career.
• The narrative progresses from Miranda's observations of Garfield's relentless preparation on tick, tick... BOOM! to Garfield's reflections on grief, early career mentorship under Robert Redford, his philosophy on generous Method acting, and his experience working under David Fincher.
• Listeners also hear discussions of Garfield's major career milestones and upcoming projects, including the brotherhood formed during Spider-Man: No Way Home, his historical film The Uprising, and his Apple TV+ series about Siegfried & Roy.

Key Concepts

• Production, Business Ties, and Disclosed Sponsors: Good Hang is produced by The Ringer and Paper Kite Productions (with a Spotify logo displayed) and executive produced by Bill Simmons, Amy Poehler, and Jenna Weiss-Berman. Disclosed sponsors via ad reads by Poehler include Uber (promoting the "Women Preferences" feature on the Uber app at uber.com/safety), Allstate (promoting auto insurance quotes from Allstate North American Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois), and Pure Leaf Iced Tea (promoting real brewed, naturally caffeinated iced tea at pureleaf.com). Projects promoted or discussed include Miranda's upcoming Warriors musical (currently on day two of its workshop with Eisa Davis), Garfield's new film The Uprising (directed by Paul Greengrass), and Garfield's upcoming Apple TV+ series about Siegfried & Roy co-starring Jude Law.
• Relentless Preparation and Broadway Discipline: Poehler hyperbolically introduces Miranda (creator of Hamilton, Moana, and director of tick, tick... BOOM!) as having "5 other million things that he's won 10 EGOTs for." Miranda recalls seeing Garfield perform in Death of a Salesman (with Philip Seymour Hoffman) and both parts of Angels in America (Part 1 matinee and Part 2 evening, which are "both 3 hours long"). Miranda notes that Broadway actors must live like a monk to do "8 shows a week," monitoring exactly when they eat to peak at "7:00 PM, 8:00 PM that night." When Miranda pitched tick, tick... BOOM! to Garfield over sushi before a Broadway performance of Angels in America, Miranda hedged on Garfield's musical ability, noting he didn't know whether Garfield had a musical bone in his body or could sing. Learning they wouldn't film for a year, Garfield took 1 year to learn to sing. For the film's swimming pool scene, they shot for 3 days in the actual Village pool where Jonathan Larson swam; Miranda hired a stunt double and an underwater photographer, only to find out Garfield's father is a swim instructor and Garfield swam better than the stunt double. Miranda also shares that he watches Poehler's speech in Wet Hot American Summer ("Theater is now, and it's you") "maybe once a month" to pump himself up, comparing her character to himself at age 14.
• Sensory Preferences, Upbringing, and Grief: Poehler claims smell is her "number one sense" out of the 5 senses, whereas Garfield claims "touch" is his most accomplished sense and that he loves felt, noting that "Munich is known for its felt-making" and he spent his free time in a felt store while shooting The Uprising there. When Poehler compliments his hair, Garfield jokes it is due to "Propecia," prompting Poehler to claim "every man I know is on Propecia," before Garfield retracts it 30 seconds later as a lie to be relatable to bald guys, confirming his hair is all natural. Born in the US and raised in the UK, Garfield says his love of hamburgers is the most American thing about him. He notes his older brother is 3 years older, a heart and lung doctor in London, was head boy at school, captain of the swimming team, and gave Andrew meningitis on "day two of my life." Discussing his late mother, Garfield states that in the "first month or two" after she passed away, he felt more connected to her than when she was alive. He hedges on a vision he had of her ("It came very like a flash in a dream, or like in a waking—I don't know what it was") and hedges on the origin of her work ethic and activating spirit ("I don't know whether it was nurture or nature, I have no idea").
• Early Career Struggles and Mentorship: Before his film career, Garfield worked at Starbucks, did two plays straight out of drama school, filmed a Doritos commercial in Spain, and then didn't act for a year while he waited tables, bartended, and broke up with his girlfriend. At age 23, he landed his first film, Lions for Lambs, with Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and Robert Redford. Garfield recounts (hedging slightly with "I think") that Redford started the Sundance Institute/Lab after buying his neighbor's farm in Utah to save it from foreclosure. On Garfield's first day of filming, Redford—who was "famously late"—arrived 4 hours late, which counterintuitively cured Garfield's nerves by turning his intimidation into annoyance. Redford arrived relaxed, dressed in double denim like he was in his 20s, and generously shot his own coverage first before asking the 23-year-old Garfield for notes to make him feel like an equal.
• Generous Method Acting and Emotional Exhaustion: Referencing Stanislavski and Strasberg, Garfield defines Method acting as "trying to live truthfully under imagined circumstances" and argues it can be practiced in a generous, playful way that doesn't disrupt the cast and crew. He cites director Sidney Lumet's book Making Movies, which defines the actor's job as "personal revelation while the cameras are rolling" based on an anecdote about Paul Newman (though Garfield hedges as he forgets the name of the movie they made together, The Verdict). Contrasting their responses to intense direction, Poehler says she responds poorly to "negging" (referencing the show The Pickup Artist and host Mystery), such as an exercise instructor telling her she has to be there at 7:00 AM, and jokes about director David Fincher forcing "30 times" or "25 more" after "take 10." However, Garfield explains that doing "a few rounds" / "the third round of 10 or 15 takes" for the laptop-smashing scene in The Social Network broke through his defenses; lying on the floor exhausted and crying, receiving Fincher's quiet handshake and "Okay, moving on" felt deeply rewarding.
• Iconic Roles, Personal Fears, and Historical Projects: Garfield hosted Saturday Night Live once during the press tour for his second Spider-Man movie, presented Sally Field with her Lifetime Achievement Award at the SAG Awards a few years ago, and first met Poehler through Dr. Jane Aronson at the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. He shares that working with Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland on Spider-Man: No Way Home cemented a healing brotherhood around a character he hedges is "arguably one of, if not the most popular fictional character in the history of like modern fiction." While Poehler notes her two sons are now "16 and almost 18" (and mentions she shares a birthday with Columbo actor Peter Falk), Garfield admits the biggest challenge that scares him most right now is "being a dad." Although Garfield was a childhood gymnast and competitive swimmer who woke up at 5:00 AM to train (which translated into his Spider-Man physicality and current hobbies of surfing and open-water swimming), he recalls freezing up during a pickup basketball game with his idol Woody Harrelson, feeling like a "7-year-old at the party that just wants to go home"—an anecdote that follows Poehler's informal personal theory that the worst injuries happen to men in their 40s playing basketball (which Garfield jokingly says is backed up with a lot of evidence). Looking ahead, Garfield discusses The Uprising, set in 1381 during the British Peasants' Revolt against the 14-year-old tyrant boy king, King Richard (who was viewed literally as God's messenger on Earth). He also details prepping for a year and shooting for 6 months with Jude Law (who plays Siegfried) to play Roy Horn from their 20s through to their 60s. Garfield fed a tiger by hand during prep and explains that Roy hand-raised the white tiger Mantecore (meaning "man-eater"), kept a button by his bed to ring a bell in the garden so the tiger would come snuggle in bed to wake him up, and hedges on the famous mauling by calling it an incident or accident "because who knows exactly what happened." To close the show, Poehler recommends the movie Places in the Heart starring Sally Field, Danny Glover, John Malkovich, Ed Harris, and Amy Madigan.

Quotes

• At 0:06:39 - "I told him about the movie we were working on, and I said, 'Can you sing?' And he said, 'When are you making this?' And I go, 'Not for a year.' And he goes, 'Then I can sing.'" - Lin-Manuel Miranda illustrating Andrew Garfield's intense commitment to preparation when pitching tick, tick... BOOM!.
• At 0:07:59 - "You learn, 'Oh, no one wants to work with that person.' Like, your job is to make the most fun room possible so that people choose doing the play over basketball, over debate team." - Lin-Manuel Miranda explaining how directing theater taught him the importance of fostering a joyful, collaborative environment.
• At 0:09:24 - "Andrew swam better than my stunt double. So my question is, like, one: what are the other superpowers you have that a director hasn't tapped yet? And one, like, what feels like even too much of a challenge?" - Lin-Manuel Miranda recounting the 3-day Village pool shoot for tick, tick... BOOM! and setting up the central questions for Garfield's interview.
• At 0:22:18 - "In the first month or two, I felt more connected to her than I ever felt connected to her when she was incarnate, when she was alive." - Andrew Garfield reflecting on the profound spiritual connection he experienced immediately following his mother's passing.
• At 0:30:01 - "He would shoot his own coverage first. He would shoot himself, and then he would look at me after his first take, he'd be like, 'What do you think?' Because he was directing as well, so all my scenes were with him." - Andrew Garfield describing how Robert Redford generously put him at ease as a 23-year-old actor on the set of his first film, Lions for Lambs.
• At 0:34:14 - "Method is basically having a method. And like the Stanislavski method, the Strasberg method, is about trying to live truthfully under imagined circumstances." - Andrew Garfield demystifying Method acting and stripping away its pretentious cultural reputation.
• At 0:34:45 - "I think there's a way of doing it that's generous. I think there's a way of accessing that work and that style of working that doesn't fuck with the rest of the cast, that doesn't fuck with the rest of the crew." - Andrew Garfield explaining how deep acting preparation should support rather than disrupt colleagues on set.
• At 0:36:20 - "Sidney Lumet is like, 'The actor's job is personal revelation while the cameras are rolling.' The actors that I respond to and the storytelling I respond to feels like personal revelation." - Andrew Garfield citing Sidney Lumet's book Making Movies to define the ultimate goal of screen performance.
• At 0:42:50 - "He looks down at me, he just puts his hand down, and he takes my hand, and he lifts me up, and he says, 'Okay, moving on.'" - Andrew Garfield describing the rewarding moment after David Fincher pushed him through a third round of 10 or 15 takes on The Social Network.
• At 0:47:56 - "I think that was very healing for all of us to do that together and to feel less alone in that very, very weird, singular experience, like to be a part of this character's legacy that is maybe, I don't know, arguably one of, if not the most popular fictional character in the history of like modern fiction." - Andrew Garfield discussing the brotherhood he formed with Tobey Maguire and Tom Holland while filming Spider-Man: No Way Home.
• At 0:55:38 - "You know what I'm really scared of? I'm going to tell you anyway: being a dad scares the shit out of me. It scares me so much." - Andrew Garfield answering Lin-Manuel Miranda's earlier question about what challenge intimidates him the most in life right now.

Takeaways

• Separate deep craft preparation from disruptive behavior: commit fully to "personal revelation" and rigorous preparation in your work while remaining generous, playful, and considerate toward your team.
• Use leadership status to flatten hierarchies: if you are in a position of authority, follow Robert Redford's example by exposing your own vulnerability first and inviting feedback from junior colleagues to put them at ease.
• Foster a welcoming, enjoyable environment when leading a project so collaborators genuinely want to be in the room rather than feeling coerced.
• Approach skill gaps with a timeline-based growth mindset: when an opportunity requires a skill you lack, assess how much lead time is available and dedicate that window to rigorous training, just as Garfield took 1 year to learn to sing.
• Embrace repetition to break through creative self-consciousness: allow high-volume practice or repeated takes to exhaust your overthinking until you achieve raw, unguarded authenticity.
• Lean on shared peer experiences to process high-pressure roles: connect with others who have navigated the same rarefied or isolating career challenges to find mutual healing and camaraderie.