“He was so nice, he was so beautiful,” Garfield said of the late “Ordinary People” filmmaker.

Andrew Garfield explains how Robert Redford made his first movie ‘heaven’ despite being ‘famously late’

“He was so nice, he was so beautiful,” Garfield said of the late “Ordinary People” filmmaker.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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September 29, 2026 4:41 p.m. ET

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Andrew Garfield; Robert Redford. Credit:

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty; Arnold Jerocki/Getty

- Robert Redford directed and costarred with Andrew Garfield in the latter’s first movie role, 2007’s *Lions for Lambs*.

- Garfield said that Redford was “so cool” and made him “feel like I was an equal.”

- He also said that the Oscar winner was “famously late” to set: “He was just on his own Redford time.”

Andrew Garfield is reflecting on making his Hollywood debut with a veteran star at his side.

During an interview with Amy Poehler on *Good Hang*, the *Social Network* star discussed acting alongside Robert Redford in 2007’s *Lions for Lambs.*

“He was a beautiful, beautiful man — and very late all the time to everything,” Garfield said of Redford, who also directed the film. “I say it with love. So I’m terrified and nervous and pinching myself, and then Bob is four hours late.”

Garfield said that Redford’s style eased his anxiety about appearing in his first film, which also starred Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise. “A lot of the nerves had dissipated because he was so loose and casual, and he was so cool,” Garfield recalled. “And he still dressed like he was in his twenties with the double denim. And he wasn’t aware that he was late, he was just on his own Redford time. And he was famously late, I’m not telling tales out of school. He was a famously late person.”

Andrew Garfield and Robert Redford in ‘Lions for Lambs’.

Amazon MGM Studios

The *Tick, Tick… Boom!* star said that Redford always seemed “relaxed” on set, and was always open to feedback. “He would shoot his own coverage first. He would shoot himself, and then he would look at me after his first take and he’d be like, ‘What do you think?’” Garfield remembered. “’Cause he was directing as well, so all my scenes were with him.” And he was like, ‘What do you think?’”

Garfield continued, “He was like, ‘Okay, I’ll do it again, but yeah, tell me if you see anything, what you think.’”

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Garfield was surprised that an Academy Award-winning director would want to hear from a first-time movie actor. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was heaven,” he said. “[He tried to] just make me feel like it was my set, and make me feel like I was an equal. And he knew it was my first movie. He was so nice, he was so beautiful.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Garfield reflected on working with another acclaimed director with a very different style: David Fincher, who helmed 2010’s *The Social Network*. When asked how he feels about Fincher’s practice of using dozens of takes before moving on to the next shot, Garfield responded, “I love it. F---ing love it. ’Cause I love acting, and I love hard work, and I love sports, and I love not going home with anything left to give. There’s nothing worse, as you know, than going home going, ‘I could have done that better.’ It sucks to feel it.”

The *Silence* star recalled filming a key *Social Network *scene that took a lot out of him. “We did a lot of takes of it, and there was a few rounds of takes where I was like, ‘He’s gonna call it soon,’ [and he’d say], ‘Okay, one more time, Andrew,’” Garfield remembered. “And then on the third round of 10 or 15 takes, I didn’t hear anything. I was just on the floor, I was exhausted and snotty and crying. I was just waiting — at that point, you’re broken in a way that’s so beautiful. It’s the best f---ing feeling in the world.”

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Garfield said that he finally felt Fincher’s approval after a wild amount of takes. “I just feel a shadow approaching. The light that was on me just gets covered by a figure, and I look, it’s his shoes,” he said. “And I look up, and he looks down at me and puts his hand down and takes my hand and shakes my hand and he lifts me up. And he’s like, ‘Okay, moving on.’”

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