#julie larson

The LMM profile mentioned speaking to his friends, people who worked with him and even Sondheim but nothing about speaking to his sister, brother in law or father.

I was just wondering because they’ve been so actively involved in everything else but I haven’t heard anything about them being involved in this

“I truly feel like one of the luckiest human beings to ever walk the planet, Jonathan Larson now is just in my system. He is haunting me in the best possible way; he’s a talisman now for me in terms of how to live life as an artist. Pure love - I think that’s part of the legacy he leaves behind; how do you build your life around things that you love, people you love, places that you love?”

“I went and saw a production of ‘Angels In America’, starring Andrew Garfield. He was such a life-force and I just sort of thought: ‘Jonathan Larson, maybe?’ And then I couldn’t get the idea out of my head...”

“I was excited and intrigued at the prospect of him in this role. There’s an intelligence to Andrew’s process and his work...”

“I said: ‘Can you sing?’ And he said: ‘When are you making the movie?’ And said: ‘Not for at least a year,’ and he said: ‘Okay, then I can sing.’”

“Yes, I did learn to sing for this role, that was one of the great gifts of Lin taking the risk and asking me if I was interested in, in going on this adventure with him. And my relationship with musical theatre just accelerated because of Lin. I get to be a student again with the, the greatest teachers.”

“He had never really sung professionally in any way, which was also kind of amazing because he had no bad habits. He was like this new instrument, and by the time we were on set, he just was Jonathan Larson; he could sing and he could play and it was extraordinary.”

“He brings a unique discipline through his work in the theater and looking at Jonathan Larson’s story and what was required from him in this role, to learn how to sing, play piano, dance and also tell the incredibly complicated and nuanced portrait of an artist who is struggling; and so I don’t think that there is any other actor that could’ve brought the amount of depth, the amount of understanding to the role of Jonathan.”

“Getting to watch Andrew in this role. I felt like I was sharing time with my brother; and I don’t think there’s a better compliment than that.”

“What I hope the audience take away from this film is to keep Jonathan Larson alive; to keep his music, his work alive - and the values that he was espousing alive. Community, art, love; an awareness that we’re only here for a short time so we better make the most of it.”