What if Tom Holland had ended up wearing a stormtrooper suit instead of Spider-Man ? According to the actor himself in an interview with Backstage, JJ Abrams came to audition him for the role of Finn in the latest ‘ Star Wars ‘ trilogy, but the casting did not go exactly well, although it is true that he passed the first rounds: “I remember doing this scene with this woman, bless her, and she was just playing a drone. So I was like, ‘We have to get back to the ship!’ And she was like, ‘Beep, bloop bloop, beep! bloop. ”I couldn’t stop laughing.It seemed so funny to me. And I felt really bad, because she was trying so hard to be a convincing android or a drone or whatever they were called. Yes, obviously they didn’t give me the part. It wasn’t my best moment. “
At that time, Holland had participated in ‘ The Impossible ‘, ‘ My Life Now ‘ and several shorts, but had not yet made the leap to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in ‘ Captain America: Civil War ‘, and what Abrams was looking for was precisely little faces known to the public in such a way that they could not be associated with other characters from outside the distant galaxy. When the director attended the premiere of ‘ Attack the Block ‘, he decided to invite John Boyega , one of its protagonists, to the casting and after a process that lasted 7 months against thousands of applicants, he ended up keeping the role.
Holland may have won
Boyega received a lot of praise for his performance, both from audiences and critics, although the negative and even racist comments he had to endure perhaps made more noise , especially when his character development (or the path that the franchise took) stopped pleasing. to some fans. Nor is he exactly happy with the way “Star Wars” or Lucasfilms treats non-white actors and actresses, or as it is generally said, racialized; even assuring that Disney had given prominence to his character in the promotion just to give a good image: “They knew what to do with Daisy Ridley and they knew what to do with Adam Driver. They knew what to do with these other people, but when it came to Kelly Marie Tran and John Boyega, you know, screw us.” For Boyega, the experience with such a large franchise has not ended up being exactly good because he does not like the idea of playing the same role for a long time and with regard to the universe created by George Lucas, he assures that “he has overcome it” : ” What they would like me to say is that I enjoyed being a part of this and that it was a great experience … blah blah blah. I’ll take that deal when it’s really a great experience. “
In Holland’s case, things change radically, because not only has he made the character of Peter Parker his own, he seems so delighted with being a superhero that it’s hard to imagine a future for the character with another face (in real action, because we love it the Miles Morales from ‘ Spider-Man: A New Universe ‘). After becoming Spider-Man in ‘Civil War’, ‘ Spider-Man: Homecoming ‘, ‘ Avengers: Infinity War ‘, ‘ Avengers: Endgame ‘, ‘ Spider-Man: Far From Home ‘ and several shorts, Holland is right now filming ‘ Spider-Man 3 ‘, where we may see him with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield Or not, but he’s convinced it’s “the most ambitious superhero movie ever” and the pinnacle of his career.
