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Spider-Man costars Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon are best friends onscreen and off.
In the new issue of PEOPLE, the actors, both 25, open up about fame, family and friendship ahead of the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home (in theaters Friday).
After Holland and Batalon were cast, respectively, as undercover superhero Peter Parker and his nerdy pal Ned Leeds in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, director Jon Watts “assigned us the task of becoming best friends, which happened very easily,” Holland recalls.
Adds Batalon: “We immediately hit it off.”
Indeed, life imitated art, and the costars quickly became close confidants in real life.
“Jacob ended up moving in with me when we filmed the first movie,” Holland says of being roommates with Batalon in Atlanta. “I have a scrapbook of Polaroids of us just living in that house and what we got up to. God forbid that scrapbook ever gets out!”
Holland and Batalon rose to fame together and say the experience connected them them — as well as Zendaya, Holland’s girlfriend both offscreen and in the movies — for life.
“Because we went through all of it together, it really bonded us,” Batalon says.
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Adds Holland: “[Fame] takes a while for a young kid to figure out. We were lucky that we had each other going through the same thing at the same time. Zendaya was our leader in that sense. All of us are a little family; we all lean on each other.”
This may be the last Spider-Man movie they make together, and both stars say they’re forever grateful for the opportunities and relationships the franchise has provided them.
“This job is more than a job — it’s changed our lives,” Holland says. “Since the first Spider-Man, our lives have changed astronomically. We’re so lucky to be where we are, and to be doing it with your mates is what makes it really special.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters Friday.
For more on Tom Holland Jacob Batalon, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
