Tom Holland Recalls His Spider-Man Audition and How He found Out He was Cast

"When we did the screen tests, there were six of us all in this room waiting to audition. It felt like The Hunger Games." - Tom Holland on His Spider-Man Audition

Actor Tom Holland

“When we did the screen tests, there were six of us all in this room waiting to audition. It felt like The Hunger Games.” – Tom Holland on His Spider-Man Audition

One of the most acclaimed parts of this year’s Captain America: Civil War had nothing to do with the titular character or his friend-turned-foe Iron Man — it was the debut of Tom Holland as the new Spider-Man. The youthful-looking Holland, who became a star in Billy Elliot the Musical eight years ago, became an instant fan favorite and his first solo film as the character, Spider-Man: Homecoming, which will be released in July, is now eagerly anticipated. However, Holland tells The Hollywood Reporter that he found out he had gotten the Spider-Man role from… Instagram.

Holland admits that he desperately wanted to play Spider-Man. He explains, “Two years ago, I went to a fancy dress party dressed as Spider-Man and looked like an absolute idiot. About a year afterwards, they announced they were recasting it, and I rang up my agents and was like, ‘Please, please get me an audition.’ And they said they’ve actually requested for you to do a self-tape.”

Knowing that part of Spider-Man’s abilities is his incredible high-swinging stunts, Holland showed off his gymnastic skills for his taped audition. He recalls, “I was a gymnast when I was a kid, so I did a backflip, just to show Marvel that I could do that sort of stuff. I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Tom Holland.’ Backflip. ‘I’m from London.’ Side flip. ‘I’m five-foot-seven.’ Front flip. I had a lot of fun making those tapes.”

Though Marvel liked what it saw on Holland’s audition tape, the actual screen test was even more nerve-wracking. Holland says, “When we did the screen tests, there were six of us all in this room waiting to audition. It felt like The Hunger Games. [laughs] It was a real weird atmosphere because there’s all these kids who really, really want this role. They were like, ‘We’ll let you know tomorrow.’ Then you find out a month later what the verdict was.”

In fact, Holland reveals that he found out he was the new Spider-Man when everyone else did — when Marvel made the announcement. He recalls, “I was in my bed scrolling through Instagram. It had been about a month since my audition. And Marvel just posted a photo saying go to our website and find out who the next Spider-Man is. I went on the Marvel website on my computer and there it was: The new Spider-Man is Tom Holland. I went ballistic, like absolutely nuts.”

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