‘Spider-Man’ Actor Andrew Garfield Says New Film ‘Tick, Tick…Boom!’ Helped Him Mourn the Loss of His Mother to Pancreatic Cancer: ‘It’s An Honoring Of My Mom’

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Andrew Garfield Honors His Mother in New Role

Andrew Garfield stars in a new film directed by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda called Tick, Tick… Boom! The film is a semi-autobiographical musical written by Jonathan Larson, the playwright and composer behind Rent, who died at age 35 after suffering an aortic dissection.
Garfield began filming just a few months after losing his mother to pancreatic cancer. Eight days into filming, Lin-Manuel Miranda had to pause production because of the pandemic.
Garfield used the role as an opportunity to grieve for his mother and carry on her essence through his art.

For many of us, the pandemic shook our world to the core. We were unable to see loved ones, and unable to fill our time with many of the activities that would usually get us through the day. For actor Andrew Garfield, this disruption was particularly extremehe found himself stuck far away from his family at a time when most people would need familial support most. In November 2019, Garfield lost his mother to pancreatic cancer.

Garfield's new movie Tick, Tickâ€¦ Boom! is a semi-autobiographical musical by Jonathan Larson, the playwright and composer behind Rent. It is a story of loss, and Garfield was still deep in grief over his mother's passing when he began filming. After only eight days on set in New York City, director Lin-Manuel Miranda had to stop filming because of the pandemic.

Although Garfield was removed from his family, the actor looks back on this early lockdown period as a time of growth. The relative isolation gave him the time and space he needed to mourn.

"It was actually a beautiful grief period for me," he told Bustle. "I was solo in the city, and I had a really lovely bed. I was watching The West Wing, crying, and FaceTiming with my family back home every day. I had all this time and space to myself, to say goodbye to my mother."

In an interview with The New York Times, Garfield explained how the opportunity to play a character whose life was cut short (Jon Larson) helped him honor the loss of his mother. "Every frame, every moment, every breath of this film is an attempted honoring of Jon. And, on a more personal level, it's an honoring of my mom," he said. "She is someone who showed me where I was supposed to go in my life. She set me on a path."

Camila Legaspi lost her mom to breast cancer when she was in high school. Eventually, she was able to use that the immense feeling of loss as creative inspiration.

Losing a Parent to Cancer: Therapy Can Help

Camila Legaspi, like Garfield, lost her mother to cancer. Camila's mother died of breast cancer, and the experience of watching her mother face the illness took a big toll on her, she tells SurvivorNet during a previous interview; having a parent go through cancer, especially at a young age, is incredibly challenging for the whole family.

Once her mother, Gabriela, died, Camila decided to start seeing a therapist. She tells us that having someone there to talk to made a "huge difference," and helped her to appreciate all the great things she still had in her life, even though her mother was no longer with her.

"Embrace the situation as best as you can, because the reality is â€¦ that it sucks," Camila says.

A brother and sister look back on the grace and bravery their mom displayed as she fought cancer.

There are many different ways to cope with grief; it looks different for everyone. But Camila recommends that anyone going through a similar situation and dealing with loss should reach out for help if they need it it's OK to not be OK, she says. It's what works best for her, and could be what works for you, too, if you are finding yourself in a similar situation.

"Therapy saved my life," she tells SurvivorNet. "I was dealing with some really intense anxiety and depression at that point. It just changed my life because I was so drained by all the negativity that was going on. Going to a therapist helped me realize that there was still so much out there for me."

"The reality is when you lose someone, it's really, really, really hard. â€¦ It's totally OK to talk to someone, and I'm so happy that I talked to my therapist."

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Joe Kerwin is a writer and researcher at SurvivorNet, based in New York City. Read More

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