Robin De Jesús Talks tick, tick...BOOM! & Watching His Friend Lin-Manuel Miranda Direct

tick, tick...BOOM!, the film adaptation of Rent mastermind Jonathan Larson's autobiographical show helmed by Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda in his directorial debut, is in select theaters now and arriving on Netflix on November 19. Starring Tony winner Andrew Garfield, the movie is chock-full of stage stalwarts, including Tony nominee Robin De Jesús, who plays Larson's best friend Michael in the film. He met up with Broadway.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Wontorek at The Rum House on The Broadway Show to talk about the full circle project.

"It's such a privilege to tell Jonathan's story. He was so influential over so many of us. Lin wouldn't have written In the Heights without Jonathan," De Jesús said. He made his Broadway debut in Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning show Rent. He also starred as Sonny in the original cast of Miranda's first hit musical In the Heights.

"It was so beautiful to watch your friend be even more brilliant than you ever imagined," he said of watching Miranda take the director's chair for the first time. "I'm not saying that just to blow smoke. Genuinely, I remember there was a day where he came up with a shot on the fly. I watched everyone go, 'Wait, what do you want?' He used his words. He said it, and they did it. Everyone went, 'Whoa, that was so cool.' To watch him handle that was really, really cool. I'm trying to be that energy. I'm trying to be a boss, too. It's infectious."

De Jesús claims the message of the film is just as infectious. "Especially after a year where we have just faced mortality every single day, our movie takes place during the crack and AIDS epidemic—it was the same thing. You go outside and death is inescapable, and that's depressing," he explained. "But there's this one question that keeps coming up throughout all of our actions and all of our intentions: are my questions and my answers coming from a place of fear or love? The time periods where things fall apart tend to be where we lean into the fear more. The moments where we feel a little better and perhaps less achey and sometimes quite joyous and amazing—it's when we choose love. I'd like to think that, after the past year, the movie's going to be a reminder."

Watch the full interview below, and head here to check your local listings for The Broadway Show. Hosted by Emmy-winning anchor Tamsen Fadal, it is the only nationally syndicated weekly theater news program.