Spider-Man Special
Michael Doherty travels to the set of Spider-Man: Far From Home, and meets the two leads, Tom Holland and Zendaya
On a crisp a ernoon by the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice, the soundtrack is the splish-splash of passing gondolas. It’s a typical Venetian scene, complete with murky water, church porticos and canalside cafés, save for the fact that it’s all taking place less than a mile from the A41 trunk road north of London. Venice has been recreated on the Warner studio lot near Watford for the purposes of one of this summer’s major blockbusters. e movie in question is being kept under wraps so everywhere you look the production is simply described in one word:
Bosco. For a moment, I wonder if an icon of Irish childhood is about to get the blockbuster treatment. As it turns out, ‘Bosco’ is a subtle nod to Seinfeld, one of director Jon Watts’ favourite TV shows, and it’s Spider-Man who is once again getting the blockbuster treatment Spider-Man: Far From Home is the second cinematic outing for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, following his impressive debut in Homecoming (2017). Chronologically, the lm takes place in the immediate a ermath of Avengers: Endgame (2019). Peter is still mourning the death of his mentor, Tony Stark, as he heads o on a school trip to Europe. He’s there to see the sights, but it’s the sight of Nick Fury in Venice that is going to herald a new series of adventures for our young webslinger. As if that wasn’t enough to contend with, Spidey has a crush on fellow student MJ (Zendaya), a new ally in the shape of Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio, and some fearsome adversaries in the Elementals, a group of ne’erdo-wells that include Hydro-Man and Molten Man.
e global storyline of Far From Home needs a vast canvas, and that’s re ected in the feverish activities at Leavesden studios today. First up is a tour of the cavernous soundstages (formerly home to the Harry Potter franchise) where an Italian restaurant (Stage A), a cobbled square in Prague (Stage B), the interior of the Tower of London (Stage C) and an art deco New York café (Stage D) have all been painstakingly recreated. e scale of the project is immense but the attention to detail is just as impressive. In Stage B, for example, members of the production team are on their hands and knees carefully framing each individual cobblestone with black sand, “the better to make them pop on screen”. Next stop is the Costume Department where supervisor Graham Churchyard and his team have been working on the new Spidey out ts. e red Homecoming suit is familiar, but the star of the show is Peter Parker’s soon-to-be iconic black stealth suit. Equally impressive is Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio out t, compete with breast plate and a voluminous cape that lights up when required, courtesy of 400 LEDs. No wonder it takes two men 15 minutes to get the actor in and out of his suit each time. For those familiar with the graphic novel, Mysterio’s famous sh-bowl helmet will be added in post production.
Back in ‘Venice’, the second unit is in place for one of the lm’s set-piece stunt sequences. Attached to a harness and wiring rig, Tom Holland is vaulting over gondolas (which we’re informed have been imported from the real Venice) using a gondola pole for the task. A former dancer and gymnast, Holland’s athleticism and agility are apparent as he nails take a er take. When the director is satis ed, it’s time for a more logistically challenging sequence that involves the creation of a near tidal wave of water that leaves a gondola containing Peter’s friends, including Betty (Angourie Rice) and Ned (Jacob Batalon), accelerating through the air. is sequence marks the arrival in Venice of Hydro-Man, a character that will be added later in postproduction, hence the presence of many giant, blue screens.
In the relative calm of the food area, Zendaya arrives for a quick chat. Still only 22, the former Disney star has already made quite an impact. Her screen credits include e Greatest Showman (2017) and Smallfoot (2018), while her style sense has landed her a gig as global
ambassador for Lancôme and a collaboration with Tommy Hil ger on a bespoke collection. Today, she’s casually dressed in a white-tshirt (bearing the legend: ‘Votes for women’) and blue jeans, eager to take on the challenge of eshing out the character of MJ. “With Homecoming,” she explains, “it was a case of beginning to create this character so it’s been really cool to nd out more about her. In the rst lm, she could be witty and sarky and interesting because it was in such small increments. Now, you have to uncover more layers to her because there are longer sequences. I got a lot of responses from girls to MJ the rst time. People said they found her relatable because they too would o en be o in the corner reading. It’s important for me with this character to show that young women are not one-dimensional. She’s de nitely not a damsel in distress!”
Playing a teen character was unlikely to faze an actress who made her mark on the Disney channel. “ e rst time around, I know that Tom was given a list of teen movies to watch,” she says, “but I was a teenager only a couple of years ago, so I have lots of real-life experience to draw upon! A lot of these characters are very much like ourselves. MJ is me, but to a heightened degree, so that feels very natural.”
It also feels very natural that Zendaya should become the latest former Disney child actor (following Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato) to make the transition to grownup star. Not that there was a grand plan in place. “I don’t think there was a speci c plan starting out,” she says. “I think what I have learned most is to go with my gut, go with my instinct and do what feels right for me. My number one thing when I was emerging from the Disney Channel was to take my time. Don’t rush to be the lead in something and don’t be in a rush to take just anything that comes along. Wait for the right thing and take the right decisions. I allow myself to follow my gut because that’s usually the right thing for me. I couldn’t have predicted that I’d be in the SpiderMan movies, so sometimes things just fall into place!” With Zendaya called back to set, it’s time for the man of the hour, Tom Holland, to
arrive.
At just 23, Tom Holland has already made the role of Spider-Man his own, following in the footsteps of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Gar eld. Having interviewed the actor on the set of Homecoming in Berlin, during which he described in detail the war wounds in icted by the safety harness, my rst question is about said harness, which was very much in evidence during the earlier sequence. Is it still the bane of his life? “No, not at all!” he laughs. “I was in that harness all day today but it’s one of those things you just have to get on with. It does hurt your legs, but it keeps you safe, so it’s the price you have to pay. The stunt team is great at making sure I’m as comfortable as I can be in some very uncomfortable situations.”
That harness was a necessary evil because you did most of your own stunts on Homecoming. Is it the same this time around?
I don’t do all of the stunts. There are some things I just cannot do and I’m very happy for my double to do it if he can do it better and it looks better with him doing them! It was me doing those pole running sequences you saw today because I had a few weeks to prepare and rehearse. I love doing my own stunts; it comes with a nice adrenaline rush. Will we be seeing a more grown-up Spidey in the new lm? To be honest, I don’t think he has grown up all that much. I think we are seeing the same version of Spider-Man that we saw in Homecoming. In the rst one, I really enjoyed the aspect of seeing a kid with superpowers, and I really want that to come across again. He is still very much a 16-year-old kid.
So what has surprised you most about the sequel? I’m surprised we shot so much of it in London! We shot Homecoming all over the place. This one is called Far From Home yet I’m shooting most of it 40 minutes from my home! But listen, it’s a massive movie and it’s always a pleasure to be part of something so awesome. The action is de nitely bigger than the rst one. It was more contained in the rst one, whereas this feels like a worldwide event. I’m not sure how much I can say about the plot at this point, but the spotlight is really on Spider-man this time out.
How do you nd working with Jake Gyllenhaal on Far From Home?
I’m very lucky to be able to work with someone so good. Every year I sit down with my agents and go through a list of actors and directors I’d love to work with. Jake has always been on that list. To get to work with him in these circumstances is fantastic. Every actor you work with has a switch. When they say action, you can tell they’re acting. Jake doesn’t have that. He’s seamless between himself and his characters. When we started working together I was thinking, he’s just talking to me; he’s not doing the scene right now. Then I’d realise, sh*t, he is doing the scene and the cameras are rolling!
A nal word on the super-cool stealth suit we saw earlier?
It’s great, because I can go to the toilet in that one!
Spider-Man: Far From Home opens nationwide on July 5