Andrew Garfield Learned How To Sing For Tick, Tick... BOOM! [Exclusive]
To many people, the name Andrew Garfield only inspires frenzied conversation about whether or not he's going to appear in that little upcoming superhero movie that you may have heard about. To others (read: theater kids), Garfield is the star of Lin-Manuel Miranda's directorial debut, the musical "Tick, Tick... BOOM!" The footage we've seen from the Netflix film has put focus squarely on the "Social Network," "Silence," and "Under the Silver Lake" actor's singing talents and the reaction was swift. The early buzz has been overwhelmingly positive and /Film's review by Hoai-Tran Bui goes much further in its praise, describing Garfield's performance thusly:
"The actor attacks the role with such enthusiasm and zeal and grace that it's impossible to dislike him, even as Larson makes mistake after mistake. It's a dazzling performance that is almost eye-opening in the way that Garfield, who already boasts so many fantastic performances in his resume, gleefully pushes against our brooding leading-man expectations for him. And god, the man can sing."
What can't Andrew Garfield do! /Film had the opportunity to interview the screenwriter of "Tick, Tick... BOOM!," who revealed that Garfield basically learned to sing upon being cast as the lead of the musical.
A "Powerhouse Vocalist"
Feel free to re-familiarize yourself with Andrew Garfield's incredible singing ability with the video above. Got it? Good. In an interview with Steven Levenson, the screenwriter opened up to /Film about Garfield joining the film at the suggestion of Lin-Manuel Miranda. According to Levenson:
"I was like, 'Oh, I love Andrew Garfield. Can he sing?' Which Lin's response was, 'Not really,' or something to that effect, or he says he doesn't. Lin was basically like, 'He says he can't sing, but I bet he can.' Because Lin among his many other talents is just an incredible believer in people, in an amazing childlike way that I aspire to. And he just believed that Andrew was so talented that of course he would be able to sing. And, indeed, after dedicating a year to training his voice and learning piano, he became this powerhouse vocalist.
I mean, it was really a lesson for me in... There are just certain people and certain actors in particular that, it's just unreal what they can accomplish and the level of talent and tenacity. We did a table read of the script in 2018 and Andrew sang a few lines of it, and it was clear that he could carry a tune and that he had a nice tone, but a year later when we came back, he had a confidence and a power that made it seem like he'd been singing his whole life, and that was just remarkable."
Honestly, I love to read these sorts of inside looks at the amount of hard work that goes into actors preparing for a given role. On one hand, yes, these individuals sometimes make an absurd amount of money for a job where they play dress-up all day, but we rarely get to see the long hours and off-screen effort that most viewers will never think about. As someone who's always admired Garfield's acting talent, consider this yet another feather in his cap.
"Tick, Tick... BOOM!" comes to Netflix on November 19, 2021 and is currently in limited theatrical release.