The Renaissance of Andrew Garfield

Warning: Multiple Spider-Man spoilers ahead!

Before this year, if you had told me that the Andrew Garfield hashtag on TikTok would have over 13.5 billion views, I would’ve told you that a) that sounds like my utopia and b) also like 2012. If you are at all cognizant of pop culture, you will undoubtedly be well aware that Andrew Garfield has managed to worm his way back into the hearts of many adoring fans. For some of us, however—myself included—he never left. Starring in three major hits in 2021 alone, tick, tick… boom!, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, there is no question that this year belonged to Andrew. However, his past plays a crucial role in his present popularity, and is the reason why many of us fell in love with him in the first place. 

Andrew first fell into the public eye in 2007, when he appeared in two episodes of the hit series Doctor Who. He then joined Hollywood royalty Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise in the drama Lions for Lambs, which, though well received by the public, did not grant him any real critical acclaim. That same year, he was awarded with a BAFTA for Best Actor for his starring role as a convicted killer in Boy A. Three years later, he starred in the film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go. Along with being one of my favorite of his films, he was praised for his performance by many and received a Saturn Award for his role as Tommy. The same year he co-starred as Eduardo Saverin in David Fincher’s drama, The Social Network, gaining his first real semblance of recognition, at least publicly. He received both a BAFTA and a Golden Globe nomination, though it is mine and others’ personal belief that he deserved to win an Academy Award for his dynamic portrayal of Saverin. However, it would not be until 2012 that Andrew would become a household name. 

Andrew was cast as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the 2012 reboot of the original Spider-Man film series in The Amazing Spider-Man along with Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. He gained a generous following for his role along with his high-profile relationship with Stone but was highly criticized for his performance as fans found his portrayal of Peter as “too cool”. He was also considered to have been “screwed out” of a third film in the supposed trilogy when SONY made a deal with Marvel and Andrew was replaced with Tom Holland in a later reprise. 

After a year-long hiatus Andrew returned to the big screen and gained massive critical acclaim for his roles in Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, receiving an Academy Award nomination for the latter. He also spent five months as Prior Walter in Tony Kushner’s eight hour play Angels in America, where critics sang his praise calling Andrew “transformative and unrecognizable in places, completely inhabiting camp, laconic, frightened and totally loveable Prior Walter ''. In 2017 and 2018 he made two more films, Breathe and Under the Silver Lake, neither of which gained him much acclaim. That same year he reprised his role as Prior Walter and won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. 

Despite all of this, it wasn’t until 2021 that Andrew was thrust into the spotlight as more than the “worst” Spider-Man or Emma Stone’s boyfriend. 

So why Andrew Garfield? And why now? 

This year, for many, has been a year of isolation and yearning for normalcy. After seeing the worst humanity has to offer at every turn, Andrew is a breath of fresh air. He is highly articulate and deeply protective of the roles he takes. He has a profoundly eloquent way of speaking and an optimistic and inspiring outlook on life. He is deeply appreciative of the arts, deeply cognizant of social issues, and deeply supportive of communities like the LGBTG+. In his acceptance award at the 2018 Tony’s, he spoke with pure conviction as he urged everyone to “bake a cake for anyone who wants a cake to be baked”, referencing the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission which saw the Supreme Court rule in favor of a bakery that refused to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. 

Andrew’s appreciation for his loved ones is discernible. He speaks highly of those around him in a way that comes off as a genuine plea for others to understand and appreciate them too, saying it was “easy to fall in love with Jesse”—his Social Network costar—and calling Emma Stone “a shot of espresso”.

Andrew, to put it simply, is nostalgia personified. By taking 2021 to portray deeply important characters, both to himself and to audiences, Andrew was able to strike a chord within us. He was instrumental to the 20 years of history that play out before us in Spider-Man No Way Home both in his sensitive portrayal of Peter Parker and his understanding of his role as a mechanism in which to further Tom Holland’s story. He graced us with an intentional and phenomenal performance of Jonathon Larson, the mastermind behind the musical Rent, who died suddenly the night before the musical previewed and in doing so conveyed the story behind such a seminal piece for the theater community. 

After losing his mother in early 2020, Andrew said this of filming tick…tick…boom!, “in a world where the person that birthed us is no longer breathing, there's a surreal existential kind of disconnect there. And I feel like art is one of those places where we can feel a remembrance of our wholeness. None of it will ever be as meaningful as holding my mother's hand again, or watching her knit on the couch while we all watch a movie at Christmas. But in art and this piece of work. I will be able to watch [it] again and again, and say hello to my mother. She's in so many frames of this film.” (Andrew Garfield on art as medicine for the soul). 

Andrew, perhaps, is able to communicate what we cannot; that in a time of such loss, it must be understood that there can be beauty. That in grief, there can be life. In darkness, light. That recognizing this is the only way to heal. It’s only natural that in a year of such suffering, there can be the gift of Andrew Garfield.

By Eliora Abramson