Tom Holland struggled to master some of the moves required for Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In the latest reboot of the Marvel Comics’ superhero film franchise, the British actor plays the title character, who after being bitten by a genetically modified spider, receives spider-like abilities.
Acting as Spider-Man required Tom to pull off some dynamic stunts, but the star has explained that certain moves didn’t come easily.
“I’m so inflexible. It’s so bad. I can’t even touch my toes,” he told SFX magazine. “So sometimes they’d ask me to land in positions which I can’t physically do. There have been some moments where even the parkour artists can’t do what Spider-Man can do.”
If Tom couldn’t pull off the stunts, graphic artists would use special technology to make them look “slightly better” than himself.
And when it came to his role, the 21-year-old was keen to differentiate himself from other actors who’ve taken on the part, including Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield.
“The main thing was to not do something that had been done before… So I just really, really dove into the research about finding new and unique things we hadn’t seen with Spider-Man and especially Peter Parker,” explained Tom. “And making (him) younger, I think, was a very smart decision on Marvel’s behalf because it just makes it more relatable.”
Meanwhile, producer and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has also spoken about the way in which Spider-Man: Homecoming is different from Sam Raimi’s trilogy and Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man. When setting out to make the new film, he claims to have looked at it with an entirely fresh perspective.
“The first Spider-Man film that Marvel Studios got to produce. The first Spider-Man film set in the Marvel Universe, the way it was always intended to be, the way he was brought into the comics,” he added.
