Filmmaker Lin-Manuel Miranda: Knew Andrew Garfield was fearless

A still from Tick, Tick... Boom!

Debutant filmmaker Lin-Manuel Miranda devised the perfect way to pay homage to Jonathan Larson, the creator of the Pulitzer prize-winning musical Rent. Andrew Garfield's Tick, Tick... Boom! that released on Netflix early this month is adapted from an autobiographical musical Larson wrote just before he turned 30 in the late 1980s. "I had a weird confidence about pulling this off because I have experienced the life of a struggling songwriter in my 20s in New York city," says the director.

Miranda and Garfield

Miranda got in touch with Larson's family and friends to collect the lyricist's memories and works. "I mourn the fact that Jonathan was not around as a collaborator." Larson's musical Tick, Tick... Boom! that premiered in 2001, stayed with the filmmaker for the lessons it gave. He says, "I love that it is about someone writing something passionately in his 20s that no one wants to make. Dealing with rejection, then getting up again, and starting a new project. You can't control success or failure, but you can dust yourself off and start again."

Ask him about roping Garfield for the role and he says, "I gave him every resource possible to get there. I knew his passion and commitment was to get the performance he wants. He was fearless."

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