Spider-Man: No Way Home casting director, Sarah Finn, reveals that Tom Holland wasn’t nerdy enough when first auditioning for the role of Spider-Man. The highly-anticipated film releases this week, and will see Holland star alongside Jacob Batalon’s Ned, Zendaya’s MJ, and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange in his third solo Spider-Man movie. Holland joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in 2016, appearing in Captain America: Civil War. The latest addition to the Spider-Man trilogy will pick up immediately after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Quentin Beck, better known as Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), helped expose Spider-Man’s true identity worldwide and also framed the web-slinger for his death.
Spider-Man: No Way Home will see Peter Parker seeking help from fellow Avenger Doctor Strange, hoping that he can produce a helpful spell to make the entire world forget about his double life as Spider-Man. But through the trailers, it's clear that Parker and Strange mess up the spell, causing the long-awaited multiverse to break open. Familiar Spider-Man villains from alternate universes end up coming into the MCU for the first time. The list of returning villains includes Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Electro (Jamie Foxx), Sandman (Thomas Haden Church), Lizard (Rhys Ifans), and the return of Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin.
In a recent interview with Variety, Spider-Man: No Way Home's casting director, Finn, recalled the first time Holland turned up to his auditions for Spider-Man. She says that he was “looking a little cool” and needed to “nerd it up a bit” for his role. However, Finn also continuously praised the 25-year-old for his incredibly hard work ethic and dedication to playing the popular superhero, which he ultimately auditioned for "many, many times."
Having been adored as Spider-Man for the last five years, it’s safe to say that Holland has been an inspiration to many of the younger generation's fans. But what has made Spider-Man: No Way Home even more highly anticipated is the surrounding rumors that former Spider-Man actors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are returning to reprise their roles and help Holland’s version fight the many villains in the latest film. However, there has so far been no confirmation of this, and Garfield in particular has continuously denied the rumors. Nevertheless, ticket sales alone for Spider-Man: No Way Home have broken records, with early projections predicting the Phase 4 film will hit between $135 million to $185 million, having the highest ticket pre-sales since the blockbuster Avengers: Endgame back in the spring of 2019.
It’s clear by now that Spider-Man: No Way Home will be the holiday event of the festive season, as well as one of the biggest films of 2021. Viewers are already relishing the return of fan-favorite villains like the Green Goblin and Doc Ock, and to re-live the nostalgia of previous Spider-Man projects. The film is so highly anticipated, that the main trio of Holland, Zendaya and Batalon, recently urged fans not to spoil the movie. Thankfully, Sony's Amy Pascal recently revealed her plans to make sure that Spider-Man: No Way Home is not Holland's final Spider-Man entry in the MCU, so audiences haven't seen the last of the web-slinging hero.
Source: Variety/Twitter