5 Years Ago Today: Andrew Garfield Gave An Oscar-worthy Performance In A Netflix Movie

Macall Polay/Netflix

There are, in my estimation, many actors who should have Oscars who don't. Amanda Seyfried should have one (and might be eligible for one in 2027 thanks to one of 2026's most confounding films). Amy Adams' various near-misses have led her to stumble headfirst into awful Oscar bait projects like "Hillbilly Elegy." John Goodman has never even been nominated. When it comes to the best actors who don't have Academy Awards, the list is long ... and Andrew Garfield is definitely on it.

Garfield, who rose to prominence in projects like "Doctor Who" and "Lions for Lambs" before earning international fame and acclaim for his pivotal role in "The Social Network," is genuinely one of the most talented performers of his generation. You could point to any number of his projects and make a case, but I'm going to say that Garfield should have an Oscar for playing "Rent" writer Jonathan Larson in the 2021 movie musical "Tick... Tick... Boom!" (for which he did earn a Best Actor nomination).

Even if you're not a reformed musical theater kid like me, you know about "Rent" — but generally, we need to talk about "Tick... Tick... Boom!" way more. Before "Rent," Larson — who died at the age of 35 in 1996 after suffering from an aortic dissection — penned the mostly-autobiographical "Tick... Tick... Boom!" about his struggles to make it in musical theater, coming on the heels of his failed futuristic musical "Superbia." Initially written as a solo show performed just by Larson on piano, the musical got a full-length treatment thanks to David Auburn after Larson's tragic passing, and "Hamilton" and "In the Heights" scribe Lin-Manuel Miranda adapted it into a film that released on November 12, 2021. Garfield's performance as Larson is electrifying, pitch-perfect, and gripping, and he should have an Oscar for it.

Netflix

The "plot" of "Tick... Tick... Boom!" is relatively simple — Andrew Garfield plays Jonathan Larson as he works days at the Moondance Diner and spends his free time perfecting that aforementioned musical "Superbia" for an upcoming workshop. Along the way, he grapples with the idea of leaving the arts behind for a more lucrative and stable career — like his best friend Michael (Robin de Jesús), who works for an ad agency — while also stressing about turning 30 years old. 

If you're familiar with "Rent," you may not be surprised to learn that the HIV-AIDS crisis plays a role; his friend Freddy (Ben Levi Ross) is HIV-positive, and it's eventually revealed that Michael is as well. As Jonathan tries to manage his personal and professional lives, he crosses paths with his idol Stephen Sondheim (played by Bradley Whitford, though the real Sondheim did lend his voice to an answering machine message before he passed away in 2021) and frets about whether or not "Superbia" has any chance of success.

Usually, the gift of hindsight doesn't really serve an actor, but I think knowing that Larson passed away before "Rent" won a Pulitzer Prize (and Tonys) gives Garfield a great perspective here. His Jonathan is frenetic, a live wire, and lives his life to the fullest; Garfield's passionate performance throughout the film paints a picture of a man who's running out of time, and even though that's obviously expressed through the character's anxieties about turning 30, it's also a poignant representation of an artist whose life was cut tragically short ... and in numbers like "Why," "30/90," and "Louder than Words," Garfield pays perfect homage to Larson's life and legacy.

Sony Pictures Releasing

I think I've been pretty clear about the fact that Andrew Garfield should have an Oscar for "Tick... Tick... Boom!" He should, however, have won his second Oscar for that movie — because Garfield should have an Academy Award for best supporting actor for playing Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin in "The Social Network."

Under careful direction from David Fincher and working with one of Aaron Sorkin's all-time best scripts — which he ultimately betrayed with his dog-brained sequel "The Social Reckoning" — Garfield is extraordinary as Eduardo, best friend to Jesse Eisenberg's Mark Zuckerberg who provides money and support during the initial founding of Facebook. In one timeline, we see Mark and Eduardo as Harvard University students trying to get their social media platform off the ground; in another, we see Eduardo suing Mark after Mark cruelly cuts Eduardo out of the company and brings his shares down drastically on the advice of new partner Sean Parker (a ridiculously well-cast Justin Timberlake).

Garfield should probably have several awards just for the way he delivers the line "Sorry, my Prada's at the cleaners, along with my hoodie and my f***-you flip flops" to Eisenberg's Mark after he discovers his betrayal ... but throughout the entire film, he's uniformly excellent as a man whose closest friend is also the most destructive force in his life. Garfield needs to be taken more seriously as an actor across the board, and an Oscar nomination for "Tick... Tick... Boom!" is a good start. In my opinion, though? He should be swimming in a pool full of trophies every day when he wakes up ... and he should have Oscars for "The Social Network" and "Tick... Tick... Boom!" Because the musical is a Netflix original, you can screen it there and see for yourself.