After more than half a year of intense auditions and being judged as unsuitable, Tom Holland is now praised as the best version of Spider-Man on screen.
Tom Holland is a British actor, born in 1996. He became famous worldwide after being chosen as the third “generation” Spider-Man on film. To date, he has appeared in six blockbusters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Having studied dance since the age of 10, Tom Holland performed in musical theatre for the first time two years later. In his debut film The Impossible (2012), Tom was recognized for his talent, winning the “Breakthrough Performance” award at the National Board of Review Awards and “Young British Actor of the Year” at the London Film Critics Circle Awards.
Memories of being bullied
During his school days, Tom Holland became the target of ridicule from his classmates because of his passion for dancing. Those difficult days made him identify with the Spider-Man character Peter Parker. Tom shared in an interview: “I was bullied badly. But their actions were not enough to stop my passion. Like Peter Parker, I accepted that I could not be a really cool face at school and could only comfortably integrate into a small group of close friends.”
Tom Holland used his dancing talent to perform in musicals as a child.
The audition journey is rough
Tom Holland used the word “crazy” to describe his journey to the role of Spider-Man. In 2015, he went through six castings in about seven months, flying back and forth between his home country and the United States. During that process, the producers did not comment on anything, the young actor could only wait anxiously.
After six independent auditions, he and six other candidates were cast alongside “Iron Man” Robert Downey Jr. Another six weeks passed quietly, and he and another candidate were scheduled to “duel” with Chris Evans – who plays Captain America. For him, meeting the two Avengers icons was a wonderful experience that he was satisfied even if it had to stop there.
Tom Holland is mature and sad in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.
One day, seeing Marvel’s Instagram post of an animated Spider-Man, while he hadn’t received any calls from the studio, Tom thought he had missed the role, feeling sad and disappointed. Later that day, he typed “Marvel” into the Google search box and was surprised to see the article that won him the role. “I still have that article. It said: ‘We present the new Spider-Man – Tom Holland.’ My computer broke because I threw it into the air. I flew off the bed, making my dog angry, and then I ran down the stairs, screaming to the whole family: ‘I’m chosen,'” Tom recalled.
After completing his first job at Marvel – filming the blockbuster Captain America: Civil War in a week, the British guy fell into confusion, always feeling like he was cut from the role because he waited forever for information from the producer.
The best Spider-Man
In 2017, when the first Spider-Man: Homecoming movie premiered, many people doubted whether Tom Holland would be able to maintain his own form, comparable to the two previous Spider-Men: Toby McGuire and Andrew Garfield. And the casting director of the Spider-Man series, Sarah Finn , said that when Tom first auditioned for the role of Spider-Man, he was considered quite impressive but not nerdy and naive enough. They appreciated his efforts during the half-year of casting the most.
However, when the film was released, Tom conquered global audiences in terms of appearance, spirit and acting, even though the content of Spider-Man: Homecoming was not really attractive. Up to now, some newspapers and news sites such as People, Screenrant, Vox Cinema all rated him as the most promising Spider-Man on screen.
He proves this in every film. Screenrant believes that Tom Holland brings a youthfulness to the role that has become a classic. He portrays Peter Parker’s clumsiness and confidence in the Spider-Man form, and has good acrobatic skills. The newspaper wrote: “Toby McGuire plays the image of Spider-Man well, Andrew Garfield excels as Peter Parker. Tom Holland has both. A long-time Marvel fan, Tom has a special passion for the role. He connects closely with his co-stars on screen and in real life.”
According to Vox Cinema, Tom Holland got his chance to play Spider-Man in his early twenties, which fits his high school image better than his two seniors (Toby McGuire first played Spider-Man at 27, Andrew Garfield came to the role at 29). During his lifetime, Stan Lee – the “father” of Marvel comics, also considered Tom to be the exact embodiment of his vision of Spider-Man.
Tom climbs a mountain with Robert Downey Jr.
Spider-Man’s Tragicomedy
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man career has many tear-jerking memories.
On the way to his final audition, the studio driver said that Tom might get the part. He was only excited for a few seconds before he was stunned when he heard the driver’s next words: “I think you might get it because the boy I brought earlier is very handsome.” Tom didn’t know whether to be happy that he might get the part or sad that he wasn’t handsome enough.
Tom Holland is nicknamed “Marvel’s spoiler saint”. He has many times accidentally revealed the content of blockbusters. Typically, when promoting Spider-Man: Far From Home, he revealed the detail of Iron Man’s sacrifice even though Avengers: Endgame had not been released yet. To deal with this hard-to-change habit of Tom, Marvel did not send him the complete script, only giving him lines. The director also did not explain the situation of the film clearly, only giving him actions and asking him to act accordingly. With Spider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel filmed multiple endings to avoid the male lead from saying the wrong thing.
