New Spider-Man Star Tom Holland Explains How He Got the Role, and What He Knows About ‘Civil War’

Tom Holland at the ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ premiere (Getty Images)

Sure, his first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will come in this spring’s epic Captain America: Civil War, but don’t bother asking new Spider-Man star Tom Holland what he’s doing there or what happens in the film.

“I don’t even know what Civil War is about,” Holland, who first earned attention in the 2012 disaster film The Impossible, told Entertainment Weekly on its weekly SiriusXM radio show. "I was only working on it for a week or two weeks or something. So they offered for me to read the script, and I said ‘No, I don’t want to read it, because I’ll be doing all these interviews and I’ll end up telling secrets and stuff. I’ve got such a big mouth.’ So I actually don’t know what it’s about. I’m going to watch this film as an audience member, rather than someone who is in it. I’ll be like, 'I wonder what my bits are about?’“

That said, you shouldn’t question his dedication: Holland, 19, became the latest big-screen incarnation of Peter Parker after a long and highly public search to replace Andrew Garfield, and he went through audition after audition to earn the part. As Holland, tells The Daily Beast, he recorded five self-audition tapes before he ever got an in-person meeting with Marvel.

Once he got in the room with Marvel execs, he had two more auditions: One with Robert Downey Jr., and then another with Chris Evans (he already co-stars with fellow Avenger Chris Hemsworth in this weekend’s In the Heart of the Sea). It was at that point that he was able to bust out his secret weapon: childhood gymnast skills.

"We had to do a movement test and then I said, 'Can I just demonstrate some of the things that I can do?’ and they all were a little unsure of what I was talking about, and then I did a series of backflips and landed on the X, and was like, 'Thank you!’ and then just left,’” he told The Daily Beast. Any opportunity I got, I was just doing back flips and stuff to try to convince them,“ he added in his discussion with EW. "Like, 'Look, Marvel! I’m a gymnast! Please give me the role! I’m so close to sticking to walls now!’”

Watch the trailer for ‘Captain America: Civil War’ below, and read our breakdown here: