When you see an actor like Tom Holland secure A-list status at a young age, you have to assume it all came really quickly. Clearly, he didn’t spend two decades toiling away at auditions and bit roles before landing the career-defining role. But according to a new interview with Backstage, Holland didn’t just wake up one day and land his Spider-Man role without a few horror stories along the way.
Obviously, we’ve heard numerous actors tell horror stories from auditions. Some, like Brie Larson, have talked about high-profile auditions that were complete bombs. And you can’t get much more high profile than the franchise that Holland bombed the audition for— ‘Star Wars.’
READ MORE: Brie Larson Says She Auditioned For ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’
“I’ve had quite a few,” said Holland about bad auditions. “I’ve read the wrong lines at the wrong audition before. I remember my audition for ‘Star Wars,’ I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega’s role. I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, ‘We gotta get back to the ship!’ And she was going, ‘Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop.’ I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called. Yeah, I obviously didn’t get the part. That wasn’t my best moment.”
Clearly, for both “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the ‘Spider-Man’ franchise, things worked out well for everyone involved. Say what you will about the most recent ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, but John Boyega acted his heart out and is one of the standouts for that film series. And Holland is pitch-perfect as Peter Parker and his alter-ego, Spider-Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And we can’t blame Holland for having a case of the giggles if a grown adult is beeping and booping next to him. That’s just funny stuff.
You can next see Holland in “Cherry,” which hits Apple TV+ on March 12.