Captain America: Civil War has finally arrived, earning a boatload of money and introducing two key figures to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the process. One of those characters happens to be Spider-Man, played by the 19-year-old actor Tom Holland. While Holland may have the innocent looks of Peter Parker, he needed to distinguish himself as a legitimate superhero during his audition for Captain America: Civil War.
Holland had to audition as Spider-Man not only in front of Marvel execs and Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo, but Captain America and Iron Man themselves. Chris Evans, who stars as the former, recalled the experience to Entertainment Weekly:
As the scene opens, [the script] says ‘Spider-Man flips in and lands.’ And Tom was really like, ‘Should I do that?’… Marvel doesn’t want to see this kid break his neck, so everyone from [the studio] was like, ‘Don’t! Don’t!’ And Joe just started salivating, ‘Just do it!’ And he did it — and stuck it!
Pretty impressive, right? But while Holland’s athletic abilities are a nice touch and all, don’t stunt doubles and CGI usually take care of all the backflips? Joe Russo detailed the importance of Holland’s gymnastic talent, regardless of whether or not he actually used it during production:
As important as it is to capture the essence of the character on an emotional level, there’s an incredible physicality to these characters. So to see a kid who is a gymnast, and you know you’re going to be digitally mapping to his movements… to have somebody who can move that way, it’s f—ing invaluable… That’s why everybody goes, ‘Well, yeah, we have to see that. If he can do that, that’s a whole other asset that he’s bringing, a whole other dimension that he’s bringing to the part.
“It informs also the performance, too, because when you flip into a scene, you’re out of breath and there’s an energy to it where you’re out of balance going into it,” added Anthony Russo. “And it can change your whole performance. And the person you’re playing opposite.”
Well kids, there you have it. In case of you young readers are looking to nab a part in an upcoming Marvel movie, this is how it’s done. For now, watch Tom Holland in action during Captain America: Civil War. Marvel’s standalone Spidey film, Spider-Man: Homecoming , arrives in theaters July 7, 2017.
