He didn’t exactly grow up reading comic books. But Tom Holland, the current Spider-Man, wishes he had. “I started reading them after I was cast [as this character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe], and was hooked,” he says, at an interview about the release of the latest in the franchise during a press meet in Bali, Indonesia. So hooked, that when asked, the 23-year-old can list his favourite Spidey villains off the top of his head. And they aren’t the villains he’s fought on screen.
“I’ve always loved Venom, and I thought the Venom movie was great. I thought Tom Hardy was fantastic in that movie. And I’ve always really liked Kraven. There are so many others, I could talk for hours about them,” says Holland.
He isn’t the first actor to have played the popular, millions-raking character of Spider-Man for Marvel Studios, but he is the youngest. And he is also the one who has played Spider-Man the most number of times — in five films, compared to Andrew Garfield’s two and Tobey Maguire’s three. “When I was growing up watching Spider-Man movies, I always really looked up to Tobey and Andrew. I saw them as role models. So while I am playing this role, I understand that I have this responsibility too,” he acknowledges.
Holland’s list of solemn acknowledgements — even over press interactions peppered with jokes, most of which are his own — is a long one.
For instance, there is the moment when he tipped his hat to the woman who got him his role in the first place. “Someone I don’t thank enough is Sarah Finn. She is the casting director for Marvel, and has done every single Marvel film [except The Incredible Hulk ] right from Robert Downey Jr to me. She changed my life. I remember going into the audition: I had a cool hat on, had rolled my sleeves up, had been going to the gym. I was feeling really cool, but she said, ‘No no no, change your T-shirt and put on a baggy one. Take off your hat. You look too cool, try and be geeky...’ She really helped me put my best foot forward in the auditions, and for that I’ll forever be grateful.”
And then, of course, there’s his latest co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays the role of Mysterio, a supervillain in the Spider-Man comics, but one of the good guys in the soon-to-be-released Spider-Man: Far From Home . Working with Gyllenhaal, who has films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain , The Day After Tomorrow and the 1999 docudrama October Sky to his credit, was “nothing short of a dream come true,” says Holland. “For me, as a young actor, it’s really nice to have someone like him in my life, whom I can call up for advice. Because it is a scary industry, you know, and it can be quite daunting and lonely at times.”
But that doesn’t mean Holland doesn’t know his way around film industries. He has been acting since he was 14, in numerous big and small Canadian and British projects, in addition to Hollywood blockbusters. He even acknowledges this as a way to avoid getting “stuck” in a single character for years.
Not that he minds playing this single character. Holland has been widely acknowledged for bringing an element of his own to the role, something that die-hard fans find endearingly canon, similar to their hero from the comic book itself. An example is his decision to make Peter Parker a bad dancer, despite Holland being a gifted one himself. “There was a scene in the first film where he dances with Aunt May. I made it a point to make him [his movements] sort of wooden. I thought it would be a funny thing for someone to be so athletically gifted as Spider-Man, but not be able to dance. So he won’t be dancing any time soon, but I am working on the early stages of a film about dance,” he reveals.
Quipmaster
Making people roll with laughter seems to be his specialty. Here are a couple of examples:
On spoilers: There’s a little button on the back of my neck. Every time I’m about to give a spoiler, it goes off and I pass out.
On Bali: My brothers and I wanted to go surfing, but we couldn’t ask Chris Hemsworth about good surf spots because he’s too good at it. There’s no way we can handle the waves he does. So can you guys [journalists at the conference] recommend anything?
Other films
The Current War with Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon (set to release this year).
The Devil All The Time with Sebastian Stan, Robert Pattinson and Alice In Wonderland-fame Mia Wasikowska (releasing in 2020).
Cherry by Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo (release date not yet announced).
(The writer was in Nusa Dua, Bali, at the invitation of Sony Pictures)