If you want to see a phenomenal performance, look no further than Andrew Garfield in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s fantastic directorial debut, tick, tick…Boom!. While Garfield has already proven himself to be a gifted performer with his previous roles on the stage in Angels in America and in films like Never Let Me Go and Hacksaw Ridge, he’s taken himself to another level in the way he brought Jonathan Larson back to life in tick, tick…Boom!. Not only did he capture Larson’s energy and zeal for life, but he also made it look effortless, including when he had to sing full force while delivering an emotional performance. Again, if you want to see a true "tour-de-force" performance that will assuredly be nominated for an Academy Award, you want to check out tick, tick…Boom!.
With the film now playing in select theaters and streaming on Netflix, I recently got to speak with Lin-Manuel Miranda. During the interview, he revealed what he learned about Jonathan Larson’s song writing process when he visited the Library of Congress, the scenes he’d love to show Larson, what surprised him about the editing process, why he cut "Green Green Dress" from the film, if he had a longer cut of the movie, and more.
If you’re not familiar with tick, tick…Boom! and haven’t seen the trailers, the film—set in 1990—is a semi-autobiographical story of up-and-coming playwright Jonathan Larson. In the weeks leading to his thirtieth birthday, Larson is struck by self-doubt and fears about his lacking achievements, which leads him to question if he chose the wrong career path. On top of existential dread, he starts to feel pressure from his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) —who dreams of a life beyond the city limits and teaching ballet to wealthy kids—and his best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús) — who has already abandoned being an actor for financial security.
Larson originally performed the work as a solo piece, but it was revived and revamped after his death and debuted Off-Broadway in 2001 and then went on a US Tour in the early 2000s. Larson went on to write the hit musical Rent but tragically died the day before that show’s first preview performance. The film also stars Joshua Henry, MJ Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, Tariq Trotter, Judith Light, and Vanessa Hudgens. Tick, Tick...Boom! was written by Steven Levenson and produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard for Imagine Entertainment, Julie Oh, and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Watch what Lin-Manuel Miranda had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about
Lin-Manuel Miranda
- What was it like going to the Library of Congress and getting to see all of Jonathan Larson’s work up close?
- If he could show Jonathan Larson a scene from tick, tick…Boom! which scene would he show him first?
- With this being his first feature, what surprised him about the editing process?
- How they edited the film in his house where the editors moved in and stayed with him and his family.
- Did he have a longer cut of the film?
