Tom Holland has Jon Bernthal to thank for helping him land the role of Spider-Man.
During a recent interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Bernthal said while working with Holland on Brendan Muldowney’s “Pilgrimage,” the pair collaborated on each other’s MCU audition tapes. While Holland helped Bernthal with his tryout for the leading role in the 2017 series “The Punisher,” Bernthal assisted Holland in landing the role of Spider-Man in “Captain America: Civil War.”
“We did [‘Pilgrimage’] about seven or eight years ago,” Bernthal said. “That was where both Tom did his audition for ‘Spider-Man’ and I did my audition for ‘Punisher.’ We actually made each other’s audition tapes on that film.”
Bernthal explained that Holland “really believed” that he would land that part despite heavy competition, often repeating “‘I am Spider-Man’” while working on his audition.
“I was like ‘There’s probably a lot of people that want to be Spider-Man,’” Bernthal said. “‘I mean, you’re super talented and all, but the odds are kind of against you, but yeah, let’s make the tape.’ He just had this belief, and when you get to know him and see how he shows up, there is a reason why he is the movie star that he is.”
He went on to joke that he takes “credit” for part of why Holland became Spider-Man, citing a note to include stunts in the tape.
“I gave him the note, ‘Tom, maybe you should run up that wall and do a double backflip and then start the scene,’” Bernthal explained. “And he was like, ‘Yeah, you think I should do that? That’s not too much?’”
He continued, “I was like, ‘I don’t think any of these other fools are able to do that,’ and he in fact did that. It’s not that I take responsibility for him, but you know, like a little something.”