Tom Holland wishes he told Andrew Garfield about ‘Spider-Man’ role: “I never took any time to think”
Two years after Spider-Man: No Way Home, which saw all three previous film versions of the webbed hero unite for an epic multiversal adventure, Tom Holland has come forward and expressed regret at not alerting the second Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, about him getting the role.
Audiences last saw Garfield in the blue and red suit in 2014, when he reprised the role for Sony/Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Underperforming at the box office and receiving a fairly lukewarm response from fans and critics, the series was shelved by the studios and the actor’s turn as the webhead came to an end.
Holland, still technically a teenager when he landed the part that saw his first outing as the hero in 2016, recalls how the excitement clouded his judgement, explaining his lack of contact with Garfield was “because of my naivete as a kid. I was 19 when I got cast.” Holland continued: “I was so caught up in getting the role that I never took any time to think about what it must have been like for him.”
In his recent cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 27-year-old actor expressed a welcome show of humility and sympathy. “If I’d made my second movie and it didn’t necessarily deliver in the way it should have done and they recast me, I would really struggle to bounce back,” Holland said about the firing of Garfield.
Despite acknowledging the former Spider-Man’s work ethic, he continued: “Andrew bounced back in the most unbelievable way. I just wish I’d called him and just said, ‘You know I can’t turn down this opportunity.'” He did, however, finally get a chance to discuss the casting – with the two other Spider-Men, on the set of No Way Home. “It was wonderful,” the actor said of the time spent together. “Myself, Andrew, Tobey – we have this amazing bond as three people who have been through something that is so unique that we really are like brothers.” Holland further detailed how the three of them actually have a shared WhatsApp group with a pretty hilarious name.
On his own experience as Spider-Man, Garfield spoke candidly in an interview with Variety last year, where he explained how the abrupt departure from the series had affected him. “I signed up to serve the story and to serve this incredible character that I’ve been dressing as since I was three, and then it gets compromised and it breaks your heart.” The actor added, “I got heartbroken a little bit.”
Holland, meanwhile, is currently giving the mask a break. Instead, he’s tackling period thriller in the newest Apple TV+ show The Crowded Room, which he also serves as exec producer on. Watch the trailer below.
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