Tom Holland wants to make Spiderman 4 as much as the fans want to see it. In a new interview, the actor talked extensively about the project, including the fact that he read a draft three weeks ago and it “fired him up.” He wants to make it happen as soon as possible, just like Marvel and Sony do. However, the actor clarified that he is no longer under contract and due to the complications facing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is not yet completed.
Holland spoke for about two hours on the Rich Roll Podcast about almost everything in his life: his family, his career, his resilience, and more. It’s a great interview that delves heavily into the MCU and Spiderman as well. Near the end of the interview, Roll asked about some challenges Holland is facing currently, and he said the biggest challenge is Spiderman 4. You can watch that specific clip, which lasts about six minutes, at 1:30:35 below, and we’ll pull some quotes from it afterwards.
“I think the biggest thing I’m coming up against now, which without doubt is the biggest problem in the first world anybody’s ever come up against, is the power of choice and it comes with being Spider-Man,” Holland said. “When I signed on to (the first) Spider-Man, I signed on for six movies. I was 18 years old. I was more excited than I’d ever been about anything in my life, and over the course of the last decade I’ve been in the hands of Marvel and Sony and I have adored every second of it. It’s been the best experience of my life. I’m now in a position where I can say ‘no,’ and now that I’ve been given this power, I find it difficult to know what the right thing is to do. That means I’ve had to put my foot down in certain situations that I never felt comfortable doing in the past and I think the learning curve I’m on is dealing with this newfound sense of power…of making sure I don’t abuse it, but at the same time I’m doing the best for me and not the studio. And ultimately the best thing for the character. I don’t want to make a film just to make it.”
We wonder what Holland has put his foot down on? Stay tuned.
“(The studio wants me to make another Spider-Man movie) and I want to make another one. I want to make more but for the right reasons,” “I’m just sailing and discovering what it means to have this kind of power and that responsibility. And I’m understanding it and I’m speaking to people and I’m asking questions… I’ve spoken to Downey a lot, especially about his return and it’s incredibly exciting. It’s been a tough secret to keep because I have such a good reputation of spoiling things, and I haven’t strategically gone to the press.
Of course Holland knew Downey would return as Dr. Doom, and of course he knew he might reveal the secret. Go on.
“I’m not complaining at all. It’s a great place to be, but it’s something that keeps me up at night and that I constantly think about.” “Is this the right thing to do? Am I going to do justice for the character? Am I going to do justice for the audience? I definitely don’t just want to make a movie for the sake of making it, because that’s not what Spider-Man represents… but it’s really going well.
He said: “I feel like I owe (the audience) the best version of what the next chapter of Spider-Man appears to be and bring it.” “And I think that is really important and I think creative integrity for something like this is really important. And the studio is present and supportive and cooperative really, and I’ve been amazed at the level of welcome I’ve had in that creative room, but we’re working the metal pedal now. We’re trying to start that as soon as possible. Things look great but there’s still a lot of moving pieces that need to come together before we can start the work.”
We love to say that the project is “pedal to the metal” and they want to accomplish it “as soon as possible.” However, this makes you wonder, why don’t they just do it? Holland answered.
And he said: “I’m not really sure how much I can talk about in terms of ‘what are some of the challenges we’re facing creatively and logistically?’ “One of the things to bear in mind with Marvel is that your movie is a small cog in a big machine and this machine needs to keep working and you need to make sure you can keep up with the schedule to exploit the bigger picture… that’s one of the challenges we face, and the time we need to accomplish it is a tough thing, but it certainly can be done with the amazing people we’re working with now.
Holland continued: “But the most important thing for me is creativity.” “We have a creative style and a playground and a draft and that’s great. It needs work but the writers are doing great work and I read it three weeks ago and it really lit a fire inside me. Zendaya and I sat and read it together and we were jumping around the living room. A film like this truly deserves the respect of the audience, but there are things we need to figure out before we can actually achieve that. But it’s exciting and I’m very excited about it.”
We are excited too, Tom. We are excited too.
But, to analyze those last thoughts a bit, it seems that Holland’s comments indicate the ongoing rumors about the struggle over the film’s scope. It is likely that his talk about fitting it into the MCU makes it seem like the street-level or big multi-verse movie issue was a problem. But it seems that the choice has been made, and we hope to get concrete news soon.
Again, we urge you to check out the full interview conducted by Roll with Holland. He talks about his desire to guide a young actor playing Miles Morales, being in the room for giant MCU discussions, and more. It’s wonderful.
Want more io9 news? Find out the expected release dates for the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe in movies and television, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
