It is nothing new for actors and actresses to go to great lengths for upcoming roles. A few current actors that are known for doing crazy preparation for roles are Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto. You wouldn’t think to add Tom Holland to that list, but after he landed a starring role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, he did just this. Holland literally enrolled himself in a New York high school to learn how American schools function.
Holland says that in England, schools are completely different from they are in the States. He needed to learn how Americans went to school first hand, not only by watching John Hughes films. In a Q&A on Facebook Live via Coming Soon, Holland spoke about his time back at school:
The coolest thing I think I did for the movie was I was enrolled in a high school in New York, in the Bronx, as a secret. No one knew who I was or what I was doing. I had a fake name and a fake accent. I went to school for three days. It was really fun. It was really interesting because New York high schools are so different to schools that I went to in London. Where I went to a school where you have to wear a suit and tie and it’s all boys, and for me it was the first time that I was in a classroom with girls. It was a really strange experience, it was really fun.
Holland told one kid, “Hey man, listen, I’m actually Spider-Man”, but the kid obviously didn’t believe him. I wished I could have seen his face when Spidey showed up in Civil War. Holland says:
“At the time I hadn’t made the movie, so I didn’t have any pictures to show him to prove that I was Spider-Man,” he said. “No one believed me. Which is actually a good thing, because it makes me think that if Peter Parker went up in his school and was like ‘I’m Spider-Man,’ everyone would be like ‘Nah dude, no you’re not.’”
If anyone does remember Holland’s 3-day stint at school, they can actually say that they went to school with Spider-Man.
Spider-Man: Homecoming hits theaters on July 7.
[display-posts posts_per_page=”5″ orderby=”title”]
