Andrew Garfield reveals a surprising emotional connection to his role in the upcoming film, Tick, Tick… Boom! The English actor first received international attention for his role as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s Facebook drama, The Social Network. Garfield then gained wider recognition for his role as Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel. Since then, he has largely stayed away from franchise fare, recently starring in historical dramas like Hacksaw Ridge, which earned him an Oscar nod, and Martin Scorsese’s religious epic, Silence.
One of Garfield’s most intriguing upcoming roles is in Tick, Tick… Boom!, based on the semi-autobiographical musical of the same name by Jonathan Larson. Garfield plays Larson in the film, the famous playwright and composer behind Rent who died unexpectedly at the age of 35. Tick, Tick… Boom! is helmed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of hit musicals, In the Heights and Hamilton, who makes his feature directorial debut with a script from Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen). The film follows Jon (Garfield), a 30-year old theater composer who is struggling to write his next musical.
Now, Garfield is revealing a surprising emotional connection to the movie. In an interview with The New York Times, the actor revealed that his mother passed away from pancreatic cancer just before they began filming. While Tick, Tick… Boom! attempts to honor Jonathan Larson first and foremost, Garfield says the film also naturally became a personal tribute to his late mother. Read what he had to say below:
She is someone who showed me where I was supposed to go in my life. She set me on a path. We lost her just before COVID, just before we started shooting, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. So, for me, I was able to continue her song on the ocean and the wave of Jonathan’s songs. It was an attempt to honor him in his unfinished song, and her in her unfinished song, and have them meet.
Because of this emotional connection to Tick, Tick… Boom!, Garfield remembers not wanting filming to end, saying it was a chance to channel his “grief into art.” During the heartfelt interview, Garfield also detailed the final days he spent with his mother before she passed, reading her favorite poems to her. While he has lost other loved ones before, Garfield says his mother has by far had the most substantial impact on him.
It will be interesting to see how Garfield’s deep personal connection to the role manifests itself in his performance. Tick, Tick… Boom! is similarly emotional and melancholic, as Jonathan Larson nears the end of his 20s and endures a midlife crisis as he struggles to fulfill his creative potential as a theater composer. How Garfield used his own personal experience to inform this performance in Tick, Tick… Boom! will be seen when the film releases on Netflix on November 10.
Key Release Dates
tick, tick… BOOM!
Release Date:2021-11-12
