TOM HOLLAND
Spider-Man star tells how he fields questions from young fans about their troubles.. but admits he is suffering from a personal crisis
SPIDER-MAN star Tom Holland has revealed he’s thinking of quitting acting as part of a premature “mid-life crisis”. While only 25, the London-born actor has been in the spotlight since he was 12 and chosen as the lead in the West End’s Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008. His decision may be because his new Spider-Man film No Way Home finishes the trilogy he signed up for. He said: “I started acting when I was 11 and I haven’t done anything else, so I’d like to go and do other things. Genuinely, I’m sort of… having a midlife crisis – at 25, I’m having like a pre-midlife crisis.” As well as joining Marvel’s superhero cast in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man Far From Home in 2019, he has also starred in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers Infinity War and Endgame. But he stepped out of the Marvel universe this year in Chaos Walking alongside Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley and this week it was revealed he has signed up to play Fred Astaire in a biopic.
He said: “I’m going to dust off the old tap shoes and go back to Pineapple Dance Studios [in London] and start taking tap lessons.”
He does seem a sensitive soul. When asked what it’s like to see himself up on screen as Spider-Man he admitted: “It’s really overwhelming. You make these films and you’re so attached to them. “And you give your heart and soul and you dedicate your life to this character. And to see it play out on the big screen is so rewarding.” While the other Marvel superheroes are grown men and sometimes a bit out of control, Tom, who looks 12, has also played his time as Spider-Man as age appropriate, starting out as a 15-year old
Peter Parker. Tom took the part from Tobey Maguire, who brought the character to the big screen in three films from 2002 to 2007.
Andrew Garfield took up the web as The Amazing Spider-Man in two films in 2012 and 2014 before Tom’s tenure. Because of his fresh-faced looks and how his Spider-Man has focused on still being at school, kids from around the world have looked up to Tom, writing to him about their problems.
He said: “Spider-Man is a role model to so many kids out there. I have always felt a responsibility to uphold the image.
“The world is changing, everyone has a voice and we have a responsibility to do the right thing and help out our neighbour and look after one another – and that’s exactly what Spider-Man stands for.
“So with great power comes great responsibility.”
Being Spider-Man also helped him find girlfriend Zendaya, who is his Spider-Man co-star MJ. He revealed that they have bonded over the shared pressures of worldwide fame.
They experience a “companionship, you know, like two friends coming together, like experiencing this world, going through the same problems at the same times, having a shoulder to cry on, has been a huge thing for the pair of us”.
Whatever career plans Tom has he’s probably already manifested them. The actor believes in the power of belief to “manifest” something you want.
He said: “I manifested being in Spider-Man. When I was 13 years old, I was on a red carpet and they asked me, ‘Who would you like to play?’ And I said, ‘I’d love to be Spider-Man’. And now I’m about to release the third one.”
He also claimed he manifested Jake Gyllenhaal to star in 2019’s Far From Home as Mysterio.
Tom said: “I remember they asked me, ‘Who would you want to work with?’ And I said, ‘Jake Gyllenhaal’.
“And then two days later Zendaya and I went to Crossroads restaurant in LA and Jake walked in and joined us. And I thought, ‘This is weird’.
“And then the following day, he went to have lunch with director Jon Watts and while he was pitching the movie all the lights cut out – like how Mysterio is that?! But yeah.”
At the end of Far From Home our friendly neighbourhood webslinger’s identity was unmasked and he’s no longer able to separate his normal life as Peter Parker from the high stakes of being a superhero.
The film explores adverse effects of fame & what happens TOM HOLLAND ON THEME OF NEW SPIDERMAN MOVIE
Peter asks for help from Doctor Strange and battles with some old foes. Tom says the new film put him through hell in the action scenes.
He laughed: “It was brutal, I hurt myself – not on purpose. There’s one fight scene in this film.
“I reckon it’s a 35-beat fight scene between myself and one of the villains. And we shot it over and over again over three or four days and I remember my knuckles were all bloody and I was knackered and we were fighting and fighting.
“In all fairness it was awful. It was such a difficult time but in film it’s so spectacular and it is so overwhelming and you’ve never seen
Peter Parker quite like it.” As someone who found fame before he was a teenager and won the role of Spider-Man at 18, Tom knows all about losing his anonymity.
He said: “This film kind of explores the adverse effects of fame and what happens to someone, especially at a young age, how it can affect your life for better or for worse.
“I’ve had a wonderful experience and feel very looked after by the fans but there are people out there who haven’t had the same experience and Peter Parker unfortunately is going through that.
“I always think that if you want to tell someone something, you should tell them yourself. I think when the power is taken away from you, whether it’s a secret you want to tell someone, if they find out on their own, it’s always so much worse.”
As well as Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Spider-Man’s enemies from previous films return. Willem Dafoe reprises his role as Green Goblin, the franchise’s first enemy in Spider-Man. Alfred Molina is also back in his role as Doctor Octopus and Thomas Haden Church returns as Sandman.
Villains who faced Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man also return – Rhys Ifans as The Lizard and Jamie Foxx as Electro.
During filming the actors playing the villains had to wear cloaks on to make sure there were no leaks of their return to the franchise.
Tom said:” I bumped into this guy in a cloak and I was like, ‘Watch out mate?’ And he took his hood off and I almost got really scared like, ‘Oh s***, the Goblin’s here!’” ● Spider-Man: No Way Home is in cinemas now.