In a recent interview while promoting his latest film, In The Heart of the Sea (which stars Chris Hemsworth), Tom Holland talks about auditioning and getting cast for Spider-Man.
Interestingly enough, according to Holland, either Sony or Marvel (or the Marvel Creative Committee that Feige canned) was attempting to make Miles Morales as Spider-Man. Holland filled the Daily Beast in on the info:
“I know they’re trying to make Miles Morales, but let me try and send a self-tape.” The agent replied, “Actually, they’ve requested you to send a self-tape.”
Holland goes on to tell the story of how he worked on self-tapes with both Joel Kinnaman and Jon Bernthal (who was recently cast as the Punisher in Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix series).
“I went on to my next movie, Pilgrimage, and by that point I’d done two self-tapes, and they asked me to do another self-tape,” he says. “So I did a second set of sides and this time I had Jon Bernthal helping me out, which was great. I had to do those sides twice and my agents kept telling me, ‘This is the one!’ And then they’d ring me saying I have to do another one. I ended up doing five self-tapes in total.”
Holland continues with mention he participated in two screen tests, one with Robert Downey Jr. and the other with Chris Evans.
“I went to Sarah Finn’s office and did a reading with her, and after that I got asked to screen-test,” says Holland. “I did two—one with RDJ, Robert Downey Jr., who was amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a cooler guy. And the second test was with Chris Evans, and it was pretty awesome and kind of surreal for me.”
Holland also reiterates that the standalone Spider-Man film will be similar in tone to a John Hughes movie (Mr. Mom, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Home Alone, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and not like the Christopher Nolan Batman movies.
“It’s not The Dark Knight,” he says. “One of the special things about what we’re going to try and create is that you’re going to see the biggest independent film ever. It’s not going to be an epic thing; it’s going to be a film surrounded by these incredible things, but that follows this boy and his life. Peter Parker is a favorite of many because everyone can relate to him, and we’re going to try to make everyone relate to our Peter Parker. And John Hughes is a perfect example of what we’re going to try and do.”
Tom Holland is first set to appear in Captain America: Civil War in May followed by the standalone Sony Spider-Man movie in 2017.
