The star of tick, tick . . . BOOM! considers his latest role transcending. Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson — the creator of Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT, who died the morning of its Off Broadway premiere — and had a chance to delve deep into his character for the film. “It was a real pilgrimage, you know, it was like I got to study at the church of Jonathan Larson.” The actor, who made his name playing Spider-Man, was a perfect fit for the role, despite having never sung professionally. Not only does Garfield bear a strong physical resemblance to the late playwright, but he’s also a “theater animal,” as director Lin-Manuel Miranda puts it, and earned a Tony Award for his lead role in Angels in America. Garfield’s Larson is poised to follow suit, earning a nomination for Best Actor from the Critics Choice Awards. For Queue, Garfield shared the magical moments on set and how he prepared to play a theater genius.
Queue: What was your first role?
Andrew Garfield: My first role was a theater role at the Manchester Royal Exchange Theater and it was a play called Kes, which was a Ken Loach film about a boy who finds a wounded kestrel, and trains it, and becomes its best friend. I thought, If this is my life for the rest of time, I’m happy, I’m thankful, I’m satisfied. Because to get to work on such beautiful stories and such great writing in theater and with great directors and other actors and if I get to keep working with my imagination for the rest of my life in this way, I’ll be happy.
What film made you fall in love with acting?
AG: It’s really hard to identify because I didn’t think I knew that acting was a job. I never imagined that would be something that one could do, but a seed must have been planted with some of the first movies I ever watched. The first movie that really touched me was Goonies, which was just this beautiful, incredibly fun adventure story where young kids get to go on quests and find buried treasure and try to keep their families and homes together. So I think something got planted by the Goonies.
Andrew Garfield
What do you remember about the first time you saw yourself on camera?
AG: I forget when, but I know it was hard. It was like the horror you feel when you hear your voice played back on an answering machine, magnified by a thousand because it’s your whole being on a large, large screen. And it was really difficult, and I went through a phase of not watching any of the films I made because of that. I didn’t want to have to get self conscious about it. But thankfully I figured that out because I wanted to be a part of the process all the way from the beginning to the end of making a film, which necessitates watching the latest cut, and necessitates watching myself. So I kind of let my ego take the bruise and carried on.
What was it like working with the cast of tick, tick . . . BOOM!?
AG: Working with the cast of tick, tick . . . BOOM! was a dream because they’re all such professionals and incredible, thoroughbred musical theater performers. And they are so in this world, and a lot of them just love Jonathan Larson. A lot of them showed up to work with the same feeling that I had, and that Lin had, which was to honor this man, and his work, his music, his soul, and everything that he left us with. So there was a real kind of community passion that was following this north star of Jonathan Larson. And they were a riot; they were a hoot. They were just so fun to play with, and to work with, and they’re all incredibly talented. You can’t ask for anything more.
Lin was great. He created a family out of us because we had months together, dancing and singing and creating the dynamics. It was a real theater community feeling, which is what Jonathan lived for, so it was all life imitating art, art imitating life. It was one of the great experiences.
How did you prepare for your role?
AG: Oh man, I had a year and a half at least to get ready. I had to get my voice to a certain place. I had to get my dancing to a certain place. I had to work really hard on absorbing the spirit of Jon and feeling like I was connected to the spirit of Jon and his physicality, his voice, his passion, his loves, his sense of an impending death, his sense of time running out. These things I had to create for myself.
I got to create this incredible, deep, inside relationship with Jonathan. There’s footage of him, there’s a plethora of that. I got access to his family albums, to the strange videos that he would make — he was always being creative, writing Christmas cards, having peasant feasts at his apartment. And I got to speak to his family, his sister, his friends, and I got to visit his old apartment. And it was a full immersion into him, his spirit, all he was about and how he wanted to leave the world a better place basically.
Andrew Garfield
Was there one scene that was memorable from the filming process?
AG: Every single scene lives in my heart in such a big way. And every one had its own challenges. Well, the real challenge was in the first week and Lin said to me, “I want to shoot ‘Why’ at the Delacorte at the end of the first week of shooting.” I was like, What? “Why” is a big, climatic, soul-purging song and I really wanted to do it live because it felt important to do it live for lots of reasons. And I said, “Why do you want to do it now? Why do you want to do it so early in the schedule?” And he said, “I just think it’s going to really get you deep in there and it’s going to be great.” And I’m like, “You can just tell me honestly . . . Why?” He’s like, “Well, because we’re going to lose the location.” And I was like, “Thank you. Let’s do it.”
It was a trial by fire and it was one of those magical nights because I knew how much it meant. I knew how important it was for the story and how it was this emotional epicenter for Jon. It’s him at a piano in the middle of Central Park going through what he’s going through with the potential loss of his best friend. It was just a lot to accomplish that night.
On take two we all felt really good. And there was one of those magic moments where we were like, Oh gosh, we can go home now. We’re going to do it a bunch more times, but we have it. I was so relieved. It was one of those very special moments where you just feel like, Oh, thank God. Because if I hadn’t reached down as deep to honor Jon in that moment then I would’ve been very disappointed. And it’s a big responsibility to honor this man and to honor his work — I’m just so moved that I get to do it.
Were there any specific inspirations for your character?
AG: I turned to Jon, I turned to all of his musical inspirations, all of his artistic inspirations, like Sondheim, Monty Python, The Goon Show. He was a satirist, Jon, he loved holding a mirror up to the culture. I really looked at all of the cassettes that were in his collection and all of the books — all of these things that influenced this artist were the things that I wanted to absorb, to influence me to be the best possible channel I could be for him.
What do you have in common with Jonathan?
AG: I feel like I have quite a lot in common with Jon in lots of ways, or I aspire to. He was a warrior for art and I aspire to that. I really believe in the power of art, the power of storytelling, the healing power of self-expression and creation and community. He was a lover of community. He was wise to community being the thing that makes life worth living, that makes life meaningful. And he lived a life of such passion, a hard-to-sustain energy, always turned up to an 11, just bursting with life, bursting with imagination, love. And outrage and anger as well — at the state of the world, the state of the culture. That’s what led him to write the beautiful and revolutionary pieces that he wrote. He was a revolutionary artist, and that’s why he was so misunderstood for most of his tenure on earth, his being incarnate, because I think the culture wasn’t ready; they were scared.
How ironic that on the day he was releasing RENT into the world, he passed. There’s a strange cosmic coincidence there that is hard to ignore, the fact that he was working and working and working to get this piece of work made and delivered to a hungry world that was in need of healing, and on the day where it was about to be delivered he passed away. It’s very hard to fathom, and it’s very, very hard to ignore. There’s some divine thing there for me, a connection.
How are you two different?
AG: One of the things I had to reach for that I don’t feel naturally, or I didn’t feel naturally, was a belief in self actually. It’s a funny thing but I have a healthy dose of self doubt that I carry with me as an actor, as an artist, as a person. Like, I can really get into the weeds and kind of think, Am I all right? Am I doing okay? How am I doing? Jon couldn’t afford that. He didn’t have time for it, or he just didn’t feel it. Or if he did, he hid it. Or if he did, it was minor moments where he was. He was faced with so much rejection, over and over again, with people just turning away and saying, “No, it’s not enough. It’s not right for us,” or “It’s too esoteric” or, “It’s too this, not enough this.”
And then, like Van Gogh, he just carried on creating in the face of all of the rejection letters. That is power. That’s self-worth, self-esteem, and self-empowerment. I was like, If I can find some of that in myself, then I’ll be able to do you justice. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. And I had to find that in me, which was a big challenge.
Vanessa Hudgens and Andrew Garfield
What is your favorite comfort watch on Netflix?
AG: My favorite comfort watch on Netflix is Too Hot To Handle, Seasons 1 and 2.
The last thing that you binged on Netflix?
AG: The last thing I binged on Netflix was Cobra Kai.
What was one thing that you always bring on set?
AG: One thing that I always bring on set is my iPhone with my music library and my Spotify, because I lean very heavily on music to get me into a particular place in my character’s life, or into a scene.
Did you take a keepsake from set?
AG: I kept a couple of things. A couple of the things are private — they’re very sacred to me — but one of the things I got to keep was my Moondance Diner long-sleeve work shirt, which I absolutely love. I wish I could have kept the perm, but that’s a lot of upkeep.
What is your dream role or project?
AG: I’m living it, baby. This is it. Playing Jonathan Larson in tick, tick . . . BOOM! is a dream I didn’t even know I had. It doesn’t get any more profound or better than that.
What Netflix star from another show or movie do you think you could be best friends with?
AG: I would love to hang out with Bo Burnham. I think he’s just so brilliant. I would just like to pick his brain. He’d probably get very annoyed with me.
Do you have any secret talents?
AG: Well, they wouldn’t be secret if I told you. I juggle. Hacky sack. Frisbee, very good at Frisbee. Let me think — I cook a mean bolognese.