On Tuesday, two new names because ridiculously important to the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Tom Holland and Jon Watts. Why? Oh, nothing really. Other than the fact that the 19-year-old Holland was just announced as the MCU’s Peter Parker/Spider-Man per the heavily-litigated deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. And Watts? The Cop Car director is going to lend his talents to the first of three planned films.
The announcement came after months of rumors, rampant speculation and reports regarding the studios’ joint efforts to cast the character and find a director. Now that it’s all said and done, Holland can don his tighty-redy-bluies for Spidey’s cameo in Captain America: Civil War. But as THR reports, the story behind the process is fascinating — especially for its tidbits about who precisely was involved:
Robert Downey Jr., whose Iron Man character appears in Civil War and is said to share scenes with Peter Parker/Spider-Man, participated with the actors in the tests, which included former-Sony-chief-turned-producer Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige. They were looking for chemistry between the boy and the elder Avenger.
That’s right. The screen test was conveniently scheduled for May 30 in Atlanta, where Civil War just so happened to be filming at the time. Since Downey and Feige were already in the area, it was relatively easy to put everything together for the involvement of the “elder Avenger.” (I suspect he won’t be too fond of that line.) Yet Downey wasn’t the only actor to work with the little guy:
Sources say that Holland was the only actor who tested separately with Downey and Chris Evans, who portrays Captain America.
You see, Robert? Technically you’re not the “eldest Avenger,” especially since Evans was reportedly involved during the latter part of the testing process. You’re more like the “middle child,” if you will.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)
