Robert Downey Jr. stopped Tom Holland’s lines getting cut in first Spider-Man scene: “You’re going to want to spend time on this”
Tom Holland has revealed that Robert Downey Jr. stopped some of his lines from his first ever scene as Spider-Man from being cut.
Holland first stepped into the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, sharing his first scene with Downey Jr as Iron Man.
“When I had to take my mark and do my scene with Downey, it was really overwhelming,” Holland said on the Rich Roll Podcast. “I am very grateful to Downey. When I did my [screen test], it was eight pages of dialogue. It was a long scene. It went great. I was told by my agent to learn the lines exactly.
“When I did my first take with Downey, he just started improvising everything and changing it all. That gave me license to follow him. You can’t beat Downey, but you can ride his coattails. And those are good coattails to ride. I just followed his lead and we improvised. I thought after that I audition that I got it. It went so well.”
However, filmmakers the Russo Brothers made some extensive cuts when the scene was meant to be filmed. “When I got to set after I got the gig, my scene had been cut down significantly from what I did in the audition. It was now maybe two pages,” Holland continued. “Downey piped up: ‘Where did all of the kid’s lines go?’”
Joe and Anthony Russo told Downey Jr that their script was already lengthy so they had to trim down the scene that Holland auditioned with.
“Downey was the one who said, ‘No, you’re going to want to spend time on this. Let’s shoot the whole thing from the audition. You can always cut it, but you’re going to want to have it,’” Holland explained.
“And they used all of it. I owe that to him. That’s really cool. I’d love to one day do that…If I’m lucky to bring Miles Morales into the MCU, I’d love to do for a young kid what Downey did for me.”
Earlier this month, Holland revealed that he and Zendaya have read a draft of the Spider-Man 4 script. The film is slated for released in 2026.
Last month, it was reported that Destin Daniel Cretton has been in talks to direct Spider-Man 4, taking over from Jon Watts, who directed the first three Spider-Man movies in the reboot.
The post Robert Downey Jr. stopped Tom Holland’s lines getting cut in first Spider-Man scene: “You’re going to want to spend time on this” appeared first on NME.
Emma Wilkes
NME
