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Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland explains how he grew into the Spider-Man role, physically and emotionally, over six MCU films.
Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland said he grew into the role over six Marvel Cinematic Universe films since 2016, gaining not just confidence, but bulk.
Holland was 19 when he joined the MCU, following the mold established in Spider-Man’s 1962 debut story in Amazing Fantasy #15 of a teen superhero who looked more like the headliner’s sidekick. At 5 feet 8 inches tall, Holland told GQ, he sometimes wore lifts in his shoes and would sometimes “do this thing on red carpets where I would stand closer to the photographers than the people behind me [to look taller].”
However, with experience and growing confidence, Holland eventually learned not to rely on such gimmicks. “I cannot do anything about my height. I can put on more muscle,” he said.
Holland hadn’t developed his superhero physique when he made Captain America: Civil War, his debut as the web-spinner; consequently, the costumers gave him an outfit with fake muscles. With exercise, diet and training for his subsequent appearances in Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home and now No Way Home, he eventually filled out his costume and now has muscle suits with less padding. “Now I just have a penis cup,” Holland said.
Before taking on the role, Holland’s ballet training as a child actor helped him not only in performances but in his work ethic. At age 9, he powered through an opening night show of Billy Elliot with tonsillitis, not wanting to disappoint others — a trait he still carries through adulthood.
“I got the nickname ‘Sick Note,’ which frustrates me to my core, even today. I was too young to do that show,” Holland said. “I was incredibly underdeveloped as a kid, and I would get sick, or I would be tired, or I would get injured, and I’d need to take a break because you’re doing three shows a week, rehearsing every single day. Now as an actor I push through everything because I’m not going to be Sick Note.”
Holland’s deal with Marvel concludes with No Way Home, which, like his other Spider-Man films, is a collaboration with Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures. It contains elements from the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tobey Maguire and the two Amazing Spider-Man films starring Andrew Garfield. The production has been cagey about whether Maguire and Garfield will be in the film, but it is known to feature villains such as Doctor Octopus, Electro, Green Goblin, Sandman, The Lizard and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson.
Spider-Man: No Way Home comes to theaters on Dec. 17.
Source: GQ
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