Earlier today,Marvel and SonyPictures announced that 19-year-oldTom Hollandhas been cast as the newSpider-Man, with the actor beating out other top contenders such asAsa Butterfield,Charlie Rowe,Matthew LintzandCharlie Plummer. The studios also settled on relatively new directorJon Watts, whose filmCop Carhits theaters this August, to direct thesuperhero moviewhich takesPeter Parkerback to high school.Varietyhas details on howMarveland Sony landed on their new star and director, including that Spidey will only have a brief cameo inCaptain America: Civil War.
WhenMarveland Sony struck a deal to bring Spidey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was revealed that thenew Spider-Manwill first appear in oneMarvelmovie before the stand aloneSpider-Manreboot, set to hit theaters in July 2017. While this still hasn’t been officially confirmed by the studios,Tom Hollandwill reportedly only have a cameo inCaptain America: Civil War, and he will only be on set for about one week. Of course, details about how he will fit into the story have not been released yet.
Before the casting decision was made, there was talk that the studios were seeking unknown actors between the ages of 14 and 18 to play the new Peter Parker, since producerKevin Feigewanted to establish Peter Parker asSpider-Manright away, while he was still in high school. After meetings with unknown actors didn’t go anywhere, they widened their search to include slightly older actors who have still accomplished a lot in a short amount of time, which lead toTom Holland,Asa Butterfield,Charlie Rowe,Matthew LintzandCharlie Plummertesting for the role in Atlanta. The studios reportedly started looking for actors in their late teens and early 20s because they didn’t want the production to be hampered by labor laws, which state that actors under the age of 18 are restricted to a certain amount of hours on set. They ended up going withTom Hollandbecause, at 19, he could still feasibly play a teenager for several more years.
As for directorJon Watts, he was mentioned as a possible directorial finalist earlier this month, alongsideJonathan Levine(Warm Bodies) andTheodore Melfi(St. Vincent). Insiders claim thatJonathan LevineandTheodore Melfibecame frustrated with the process and bowed out, leavingJon Wattswith the job. What do you think about these new details?
