Tom Holland’s Biggest Regret About Playing Spider-Man
Tom Holland regrets not reaching out to Andrew Garfield after taking over the role of Spider-Man.
When it comes to massive Marvel movies over the years, it doesn’t get much bigger than 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. The film not only saw Tom Holland in the titular role but also the likes of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who had both, at one time, played the web-slinging hero. While Maguire got his full trilogy, Garfield was let go from the series before he was able to round his story out with Holland picking up where he left off – something that, as Holland says, he wishes he would have handled more delicately.
During a recent soul-revealing interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Holland talked about his role in the MCU. When they got to talking about his now beloved portrayal of Spider-Man, Holland says that he wishes he would’ve understood the importance of reaching out to Garfield to let him know that he would be taking over the role.
Noting that he was just 19 when he got the job, Holland chalks his inaction up to “naivete,” adding that he got “so caught up in getting the role” that he never had a moment of pause to think about how this must feel for the ex-Spidey.
Now, several years later, Tom Holland can look back from a more grown-up place and see how hurtful and career-crashing his takeover could have been. He understands that if he wouldn’t have been asked back after his first film, it would’ve been a devastating blow to his ego and future in the industry. “I would really struggle to bounce back,” Holland says, adding that unlike him, Garfield “bounced back in the most unbelievable way.”
With hindsight now being 20/20, Tom Holland says that if he could turn the clock back, he would’ve “called [Garfield] and just said, ‘You know I can’t turn down this opportunity.’” Of course, as fans of Andrew Garfield will know, his star only climbed after he wrapped things up with Sony.
For his work in 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge, Garfield would earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, an honor he would again see for his performance in 2021’s Tick, Tick… Boom! His performance in the latter would capture him a Golden Globe Award, while his recent role in Under the Banner of Heaven secured him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.
Andrew Garfield was given the opportunity to properly say goodbye to Spider-Man in the box office smash, Spider-Man: No Way Home. Not only did the feature see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker team up with Maguire and Garfield’s Spideys of yesteryear, but it also saw a handful of baddies cross over from other multiverses with Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, Jamie Foxx, Thomas Haden Church, and Rhys Ifans reprising their villainous roles. Hopefully, with nothing but good blood between them, Holland and Garfield will join forces again in or outside of the Spider-Verse.
