Tom Holland Says He Broke His Computer When He Got Cast As Spider-Man

In an interview with Variety, Tom Holland revealed that when he was cast as Spider-Man in the MCU, he was so excited that he broke his computer. Here are highlights:

On his audition to play Spider-Man: “There’s three stages of life changing. It’s weird. The audition process was horrible. It was seven months of auditioning. I must’ve done six auditions, and they don’t tell you anything. There was me and six other kids, and [Robert] Downey [Jr.] was there, so we all tested with Downey, which was crazy. It’s the best audition I’ve ever done, him and I were riffing off each other. My agents told me that Marvel likes you to learn the words exactly — you can’t improvise. And then, on the first take, Downey just completely changed the scene. We started riffing with each other, and I mean, to sound like a bit of a dick, I rang my mum afterward and was like, ‘I think I’ve got it.’”

On learning he got the part: “They flew us back to Atlanta, me and one other guy, and we did this scene, which was so surreal. By that point, it had been an amazing enough of an experience that if I hadn’t got the part, I would’ve felt like I’d at least achieved something to get to that point. I went out to play golf with my dad. I lost and I was upset, and I remember going on my phone and checking Instagram, and Marvel had posted a picture of Spider-Man, of the cartoon. And by this point, I kind of had assumed I hadn’t got it, because no one had called me. I got my computer, and my dog was sitting next to me. “I type in ‘Marvel.’ I’ve still got the article saved on my computer. It said, ‘We would like to introduce our new Spider-Man, Tom Holland.’ I broke my computer, because I flipped it up in the air. It fell off my bed; my dog went nuts. I ran downstairs. I was telling my family, ‘I got the part! I got the part!’ And obviously, that was right about the time when Sony had got hacked, so my brother, Harry, who’s quite tech savvy, was like, ‘No. There’s no way that’s real. They would have called you. They’ve been hacked.’ And then the studio called me and gave me the news. It was so bizarre how it happened.”

On thinking it was a one and done role: “From the moment of shooting ‘Civil War’ to ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ I was convinced they were going to fire me. I don’t know why. ‘Civil War’ hadn’t come out yet, and I just didn’t hear anything from anyone. I can’t really explain it. It was awful, but they didn’t — obviously. It’s been crazy, mate. I’ve loved every minute of it.”