To say that Andrew Garfield has been busy these past few years is an understatement. Aside from making an unexpected debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the veteran actor has been involved in multiple projects. These include a critically acclaimed Netflix film tick, tick... BOOM!, which won him another Oscar nod, and the FX crime drama Under the Banner of Heaven, which resulted in his first Emmy nod. Not to mention, he also starred opposite Jessica Chastain in the Oscar-winning biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye.Since working on these though, Garfield has decided to take some time for himself. This also comes after he lost his mom in 2019.
Andrew Garfield Has Been Having Quite A Career Run In Recent Years
Garfield has certainly come a long way since his breakout role in The Social Network, followed by his time as the webbed superhero in Sony Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man.
Just a couple of years after his second Spider-Man film, Garfield went on to star in Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning biopic Hacksaw Ridge, which also resulted in the actor’s first Oscar nod.
Soon after, Garfield made his way to theater, starring in Angels in America, which tells the story of a group of New Yorkers dealing with the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s. In the play, the actor portrayed Prior Walter, an openly gay New Yorker who contracts AIDS.
Garfield’s performance led to his first-ever Tony Award. At the same time, he also caught the attention of Lin-Manuel Miranda who was preparing to make his directorial debut with tick, tick... BOOM! at that time.
“I was smitten with him in that production. I locked in on him as Jonathan Larson and the idea never went away,” Miranda recalled. The director even agreed to moderate a panel for Angels just so he would have the opportunity to pitch his Netflix film to Garfield. Miranda’s plan worked.
“We got sushi at Katsuya on 50th Street, and it was the first time I’d ever sat down with him. He didn’t know anything about Jonathan Larson, and I gave him the whole spiel, and he seemed intrigued,” he said of Garfield.
And when Miranda asked the actor if he could sing, Garfield only asked how long before they’d start filming in response.
“Andrew just looked at me and goes, ‘In that case, I can sing,’” the director recalled.
He Lost His Mom Just Before Starring In tick tick…BOOM!
Garfield’s mother, Lynn, was diagnosed with cancer just before he agreed to do The Eyes of Tammy Faye. And while he wanted to stay home, his mother insisted on taking on the project.
“She said, ‘I would struggle with you not doing it on account of me,’” Garfield recalled. “I told her, ‘OK, but promise me when it’s time to come home you’ll let me know.’”
Garfield would make it back home in time to be by his mother’s side before her passing in late 2019. “We had all the quality time we could possibly have while she was here,” the actor said.
“And those last two weeks I got to be with her were probably the most profound two weeks of my life. To be with her and my dad and my brother, all of her friends, my nephews. It was full of grace in the midst of the terrible tragedy.”
And when he returned to work for tick, tick... BOOM!, Garfield felt like he was honoring his mother with his work on the film.
“Being a part of this film with Lin and the rest of the company, I’m able to sing Jon’s songs and I’m able to hold my mother’s unfinished song in the lyrics and the music that Jon wrote,” he explained. “His work has become a container for that.”
Garfield also knew that his mother was with him every step of the way. “If I’m short-tempered with someone, if I’m having a rough day and someone walks past me and they’re nice to me and I’m gruff, I will feel a little hand on my shoulder, it will be my mother’s hand and I hear her say ‘Andrew’ and I’ll go back and I’ll say ‘hey sorry that was a bit rude of me,’" he said.
“I hope she never takes a hand off my shoulder in that way.”
Andrew Garfield Says He’s Taking A Break After Experiencing ‘A Semblance Of Satisfaction’
Garfield’s decision to take some time off was not brought on by anything with the actor saying that he “didn’t have to force my way into letting myself rest.” It’s just that he feels at peace about hitting the pause button right now.
“It was interesting,” Garfield remarked. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot, the reason for this weird peace I’ve been experiencing.” He also believes that it has something to do with his mom’s recent passing.
“I think the loss of my mum was a big thing,” the actor admitted. “That cataclysm is a forever-reverberating shift into a deeper awareness of reality. Existence. The shortness of this window we have. I think that’s working on me in profound ways that I’m probably not even aware of.”
At the same time, Garfield is also pleased with how well his recent projects turned out. “We’re never satisfied, really, but there was – I don’t know – a semblance of satisfaction that I started to feel, with how Tick, Tick… Boom! turned out, with how Angels in America turned out,” he continued. “And actually with how being involved in that Spider-Man movie turned out.”
When Garfield’s ready, he’ll determine what’s next.
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