If Hollywood has two powerful ‘Tom empires’, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise, then in this splendid film capital, another name is emerging, attracting much attention from the Western media recently: Tom Holland.
At the age of 23, although he does not possess a huge fortune of several hundred million USD like stars born in the 1990s like himself, Tom Holland has something else that many people admire: a career that is shaping up in Hollywood with his own talent and ability.
Born in theater, then moved to cinema
Entering the film industry for less than 10 years, the British actor has had a dream career: over 10 films, with both voice acting and acting roles. However, many people do not notice that the 1996-born guy has a burning passion for the stage, especially ballet and other modern dances in general.
Tom Holland in the musical Billy Elliot the Musical , about a poor boy with a burning passion for ballet.
Ảnh: Billy Elliot Twitter
Born and raised in an artistic family, young Tom continued the family tradition of studying at an art school. At the age of 10, he appeared on stage, selected and trained by choreographer Lynne Page. Thanks to the talented choreographer’s hand, along with his passion for dance, Tom Holland was selected to join the dance group in the famous musical Billy Elliot the Musical in 2010.
It is not difficult to find videos of the actor showing off his dancing skills on YouTube. A year ago, Tom surprised many fans by performing extremely skillful ballet moves in a practice session posted on YouTube. However, dancing, jumping… is actually just one of the physical training activities of the Spiderman actor. That has become a great support springboard for him in his later superhero roles.
8 years ago, Tom Holland was just starting his film career by doing voiceover work for animated films.
Photo: YouTube Screenshot
Among the rising stars in Hollywood today, Tom Holland has many unique features. He does not make the Western press “reshape” masculine beauty like the “male god” Timothée Chalamet did, nor is he targeted by independent film studios like his peer Lucas Hedges. If Timothée Chalamet or Lucas Hedges specialize in art films, Tom Holland seems to be born to act in action films.
The British dancer’s first foray into cinema was voicing the character Sho in the work Arrietty (English version) by the Japanese animation studio Ghibli. A year later, in 2012, the media’s focus was on the young star, then only 16 years old, in the tsunami disaster film The Impossible . In two years of participating in two films, one dubbing and one acting, Hollywood giants began to look at Tom Holland. Since then, he has been continuously “knocked on the door” by filmmakers for roles in both drama ( How I Live Now, Locke, The Lost City of Z ), fantasy ( In the Heart of the Sea )… In particular, the British actor’s career has taken off like a kite in the wind since Marvel “gave the green light” for him to participate in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Spider-Man Peter Parker.
In 2012, Tom Holland was cast in the film The Impossible directed by JA Bayona. The film was inspired by the real event of the tsunami that occurred in 2004. In the film, he plays Lucas, who has two younger brothers, father Henry Bennett (Ewan McGregor) and mother Maria Bennett (Naomi Watts). When the tsunami occurred, his family was separated. However, with extraordinary efforts, Lucas not only took care of himself and his mother, but also found a way to contact his father and two younger siblings. The film received “a shower of praise” from critics, with a score of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ảnh: Summit Entertainment
Excellent performance as Spiderman
Many people will be surprised by the small salary that the 23-year-old actor receives each time he participates in an art or film project. When he participated in the musical Billy Elliot the Musical , he earned half a million USD. When he voiced The Arriety , he was paid nearly 60 thousand USD. His role in The Impossible was paid over 71 thousand USD. According to Celebrity Net Worth, when he acted in Spider-Man: Homecoming by director Jon Watts, Tom Holland was paid 1.5 million USD (the film’s global revenue was over 880 million USD). Up to now, his assets are over 4 million USD, very modest compared to other senior stars in the MCU.
3 years ago, when he appeared in Disney ‘s billion-dollar blockbuster Captain America: Civil War directed by Joe Russo and Anthony Russo, Spider-Man Tom Holland, although only an apprentice of Iron Man Tony Stark, left an impression on viewers with his quickness, agility and beautiful acrobatic moves. Although he was a “newbie”, Peter Parker always tried to learn many things from his teacher and what surprised us about the young boy was that when the superheroes gathered to fight Thanos, the young Spider-Man fought with all his might.
While critics have given much praise to the performance of star Naomi Watts, Lucas’s mother in the movie The Impossible , Tom Holland is also predicted by many to be a shining star in the future. Naomi Watts was nominated for Best Actress at the 2013 Oscars. Tom Holland, although new to acting, was awarded the Breakthrough Actor in a Movie by the National Board of Review.
Ảnh: Summit Entertainment
MCU has now ended phase 3 with a series of challenges for the Avengers team, especially the brutal battles to the death in the two blockbuster movies Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame directed by the Russo brothers. Although Spider-Man has only officially appeared in the past 3 years, he has also had two separate movies, Spider -Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home . Marvel’s goal is not only to renew the Spider-Man brand through previous movies, bringing this character into the MCU, becoming a member of the Avengers team, but it could be a deeper direction in phase 4.
If we look back at Peter Parker’s journey in the MCU, we can see that in Captain America: Civil War , he was still impulsive in both his actions and thoughts, but in Spider-Man: Homecoming , he was calmer in many situations, always listening and learning. Through his encounters with Thanos, he was trained more in courage, team spirit and sacrifice for the greater good. And in Spider-Man: Far From Home , directed by Jon Watts, he was completely mature when dealing with many difficult situations without Tony Stark and other superheroes by his side.
Tom Holland, 16, told the Evening Standard: “I met Ewan and Naomi before filming. It was my first time in New York City, and I met so many famous stars! Ewan arrived first, looked very cool, hugged me. Naomi was very polite and beautiful.” Filming has made Tom accustomed to travelling back and forth between the US and the UK.
Ảnh: Tony Buckingham/Evening Standard
Spider-Man: Far From Home treats audiences with eye-catching battles, spectacular special effects and surprising twists. However, the Western press has given many compliments to the character building in the film. Spider-Man and his friends are thoroughly exploited psychologically through the frames. One of the “expensive” moments in the work is when he knows he has mistakenly given the ultimate weapon to the villain, Peter Parker pulls himself together and prepares everything from armor to close-combat psychology. Perhaps, what the character Hogan (Jon Favreau), Tony’s driver, said to the young Spider-Man makes the audience almost “enlightened”: that is, Tony in his life often reconsiders many things after he has done them, but choosing him as his successor, or one can say as a representative of a new generation of Avengers, has never been wrong or worth reconsidering. It can be said that Tom Holland’s role in this work is extremely emotional, successfully completing the mission of closing phase 3 of MCU in a joyful and exciting atmosphere.
Sony’s sharing of the Spider-Man copyright with Marvel was one of the turning points in the history of MCU cinema. And the casting of Tom Holland in this expensive role was also a turning point in the young actor’s acting career. The role of Spider-Man has turned Tom from an ordinary actor into a potential name in the superhero film genre, especially in the promising transition period between the 3rd and 4th phases of MCU.
In 2014, Tom Holland voiced the character Eddie Locke, the son of engineer Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) in the film Locke directed by Steven Knight. The film is less than 90 minutes long, focusing on Ivan’s story when one night, he received a call from his ex-girlfriend that she was in labor, Ivan drove to the hospital at night, not going home with his wife and children to watch the match that night. Eddie supported his father a lot, this character left many emotions in the audience after watching. The film was rated 90% on Rotten Tomatoes
Photo: A24
During his nearly decade-long film career, the handsome British actor sometimes participated in works that were rated average, even bad in terms of quality such as How I Live Now, In the Heart of the Sea … Until 2017, he really broke through in the drama and biographical genre in the film The Lost City of Z by director James Gray. He played Jack Fawcett, the son of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam). The work was inspired by the life of a real explorer in British history, Percy Fawcett. The journey to find the ancient city of Z in the early 20th century was accurately and emotionally restored by the filmmakers.
Photo: Amazon Studios
Cross-dressing and dancing, Tom Holland did very well. In the Lip Sync Battle program on May 7, 2017, the actor born in 1996 initially wore a suit and performed the classic dance in the movie Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Then he surprised fans by taking off his suit, cross-dressing and dancing “the roof off” to the song Umbrella by Rhianna. The actor’s actions made many fans excited, they expressed their admiration for him on Twitter.
Photo: Paramount Network
In the comics, the relationship between Spider-Man and Iron Man is actually much more intense than in the movies. Therefore, when Sony decided to share the copyright of Spider-Man with Marvel, and Marvel decided to bring this character into the MCU, having a close relationship with Iron Man is actually historical. From the beginning, the character Spider-Man belonged to Marvel. In the 1990s, Marvel had a difficult time doing business and had to sell the copyright of this character to Sony. When Marvel became strong in the film market in the early 21st century until now, they brought this character back to where it was first born, and fought alongside other superheroes such as Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man… was a right move. The first sentence that Spider-Man said in Captain America: Civil War was “Hello everyone” which has a lot of meaning for Marvel fans. If you look closely at the Spider-Man logo, you can see that the logo has been redesigned compared to previous Spider-Man movies.
Photo: Disney
Spider-Man first appeared in Marvel Comics in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962). Stan Lee and his collaborator Steve Ditko created the mutant character, who suffered from many shortcomings in family affection. But it was this character that inspired many generations.
Ảnh: Getty Images
Tom Holland had to spend months worrying because besides him, many other young actors were also being considered for the role of Spider-Man. Marvel and Sony considered very carefully to make 100% sure that their decision was right. If you compare Tom Holland’s salary with other stars in the MCU when they have just starred in superhero movies, it is quite a lot. In the blockbuster Thor (2011), Tom Hiddleston played Loki and was paid only 160 thousand USD.
Photo: Marvel
The close relationship between Spider-Man and Iron Man in Spider-Man: Homecoming was orchestrated by the filmmakers, paving the way for Spider-Man to enter the MCU. In the comics, the two characters have had a rocky relationship for decades.
Photo: Marvel
During his career, Tom Holland has received dozens of film awards, but the most honorable of these is the 2017 BAFTA Award for Promising Young Star.
Ảnh: Getty Images
Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal, two potential faces in the latest Spider-Man blockbuster, are making waves in theaters, with a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. From an unknown boy, Tom Holland now has many movies in his pocket, with a salary of up to over 1 million USD. As for 39-year-old actor Jake Gyllenhaal, his colorful, funny role as Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home is a “relief” for many long-term projects in the future. In the near future, Tom Holland will be quite busy with film projects such as The Devil All the Time (2020), Onward (2020)… He confided: “I realize how lucky I am. I thank everyone for believing in me, giving me a job. And at the same time, thank the fans who actively support me.”
Ảnh: Getty Images
