Andrew Garfield gifts Stephen Colbert a T-shirt featuring We Live in Time's infamous 'demon carousel horse'

Andrew Garfield is rewarding Stephen Colbert’s obsession with the infamous demonic carousel horse featured on a promotional photo for the actor’s upcoming romantic drama, We Live in Time.  

While visiting The Late Show on Wednesday, Garfield surprised the host with a T-shirt that featured the horse’s signature slack-jawed, dead-eyed stare with the words “what’s the rush” written next to it. 

“I’m gonna make a three-part documentary series to get to the bottom of like where the oversight fell apart and why this horse has taken on a life of its own,” Garfield explained about the carousel creature. “In fact, I have a gift for you if you’d like, because I know you love this movie, and you love We Live In Time, and you’re a big Florence Pugh fan, and I just thought you deserve it.”

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Colbert turned away from the audience as he opened the red gift bag, only to suddenly fall silent. He then showed off the brown shirt to the audience with a big smile on his face. 

“It says ‘What’s the rush,’” Colbert noted, pointing to the shirt’s text. “Is that a reference to the film?” To which Garfield replied, “You have to see the movie to get this really incredible and important reference.” 

Earlier in their conversation, Colbert asked Garfield to please explain the "demon carousel horse" and how it ended up in the film still. "It became such a thing that I was convinced that it was fake. That someone had done this to you," the host said as Garfield laughed. "What the hell is this? And what did you think when you saw it?"

Garfield said that he first saw the horse’s… unique visage just before entering a six-day, phone-less retreat in Northern California. 

“I see this image and I think, ‘Maybe I’m the only one that will notice this insane horse. It feels like we’re in his poster in a way. I’m probably being overly sensitive and no one else will see it.’ And then I go into this retreat, turn my phone off,” he said. “Six days later, I open my phone, the first thing is Stephen Colbert talking about the insane horse.” 

He continued, “And I see all the memes which had just, I was crying with laughter in the departure lounge, so I guess other people noticed it, including you.” 

Garfield even teamed up with Colbert to make his own horse meme, appearing in a TikTok that featured him pretending to talk with someone else before getting spooked by Colbert, who was wearing a large cutout of the horse in front of his face. The Late Show perfectly captioned the video: “It’s the carousel horse’s world, we’re just living in it.”

Garfield stars in the John Crowley-directed romantic drama as Tobias, a man who falls in love with chef Almut (Pugh). The pair’s relationship is tested over the years as they navigate their careers and Almut’s cancer diagnosis. 

We Live in Time hits theaters in a limited release on Oct. 11 and nationwide on Oct. 18. Watch Garfield reflect on the horse in the clip above.