Tom Holland on auditioning for Spider-Man
Hollywood star Tom Holland has opened up about the grueling audition process for Spider-Man.
During a chat for Variety's Actors on Actors, he revealed he found out he got the part through online press.
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The star joined Black Panther actor Daniel Kaluuya for the chat.
Tom was asked how much his life has changed since bagging the iconic role, and he replied, "there’s three stages of life changing."
He admitted, "It’s weird. The audition process was horrible."
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Tom explained, "It was seven months of auditioning."
"I must’ve done six auditions, and they don’t tell you anything."
"You’re waiting and waiting, and then, eventually, I got a screen test in Atlanta."
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Meeting Robert Downey Jr.
Tom and six other actors flew to Atlanta to meet Robert Downey Jr.
"So we all tested with Downey, which was crazy. It went so well," he admitted.
"It’s the best audition I’ve ever done, him and I were riffing off each other."
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"My agents told me that Marvel likes you to learn the words exactly - you can’t improvise."
"And then, on the first take, Downey just completely changed the scene," Tom recalled.
"We started riffing with each other, and I mean, to sound like a bit of a d**k, I rang my mum afterward and was like, "I think I’ve got it.""
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But things weren't looking good when six weeks later, Tom still hadn't heard anything from the studio.
He added that online polls suggested he wasn't, "the favourite to get the part from the public."
Eventually, he got a call, "we had to do a fight with Chris Evans."
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Tom recalled how they flew him and another actor back to Atlanta for a screen test with Chris.
"By that point, it had been an amazing enough of an experience that if I hadn’t got the part, I would’ve felt like I’d at least achieved something to get to that point."
He got the part
Tom recalled the day he found out he got the part.
"I went out to play golf with my dad," he began.
"I lost and I was upset, and I remember going on my phone and checking Instagram, and Marvel had posted a picture of Spider-Man, of the cartoon."
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He continued, "And by this point, I kind of had assumed I hadn’t got it, because no one had called me."
It wasn't until he googled, 'Marvel,' later that day that he found out he had bagged the role.
"I’ve still got the article saved on my computer."
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"It said, 'We would like to introduce our new Spider-Man, Tom Holland.'"
"I broke my computer, because I flipped it up in the air. It fell off my bed; my dog went nuts. I ran downstairs."
He recalled, "I was telling my family, "I got the part! I got the part!""
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Tom's brother however, was convinced Sony had been hacked.
But luckily, the studio called shortly after the announcement to confirm the news with Tom.
"It was so bizarre how it happened."
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Tom thought they were going to fire him
The first thing he shot was Civil War, "which was a week's work."
"And from the moment of shooting Civil War to Spider-Man: Homecoming, I was convinced they were going to fire me."
"I don’t know why," he admitted.
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"Civil War hadn’t come out yet, and I just didn’t hear anything from anyone."
"I can’t really explain it. It was awful, but they didn’t - obviously."
"It’s been crazy, mate. I’ve loved every minute of it," he said.
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Tom's new movie Cherry drops March 12th on Apple TV+.
Check out the trailer here.
