‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ Star Tom Holland Can Dance, & You Need to See It to Believe It
One of the greatest (or worst, if you’re Donald Trump) things about the internet is that old clips can surface at any time. It’s hard to say why things go viral when — it must be some combination of what’s trending at that moment and what people need to see. But whatever the reason, we’ve recently been reminded of an incredible moment in pop culture history: Tom Holland’s appearance on Lip Sync Battle. If you haven’t heard, here’s what you’re missing.
Holland is currently on a press tour
In case you’ve recently returned from a coma or are completely out-of-touch with pop culture, Holland recently appeared in a little (er, major) film called Avengers: Endgame. Almost immediately following the movie’s record-breaking release, Holland embarked on the press tour for Spider-Man: Far From Home, the MCU (/ Sony) follow-up.
In addition to picking up immediately after the events of Endgame, Far From Home is a direct sequel to the 2017 flick Spider-Man: Homecoming. While he was promoting that movie, Holland also did a lot of press, including appearing on the reality competition show Lip Sync Battle alongside his co-star, Zendaya.
One phenomenal day on Lip Sync Battle
What occurred that day was nothing short of incredible. First, let’s set the scene a bit. This is a show that has a lot of bad and mediocre performances. So no one had any idea what was about to happen would be so amazing. But we did know it had to be better than most: After all, both actors have a strong performing arts background.
First, Zendaya kicked things off with a moving performance of Erykah Badu’s classic “Tyrone.” Holland then suited up in a jersey and chain to lip sync the ‘00s jam “Ride Wit Me,” by Nelly. Both were in good standing — and then Zendaya whipped out a gender-bending masterpiece with Bruno Mars’ “24K Magic,” in which she captured the performer’s cadence perfectly. How could Holland top that?
Here’s the now-infamous clip
It didn’t seem possible, but somehow, Holland then delivered beyond what anyone could have ever foreseen. The actor took the stage in a suit and hat, holding a large umbrella, and whipped out some fancy footwork as “Singin’ In the Rain” played. He even swung around a lamp post as Gene Kelly did in the 1952 film. It was very sweet — but then, something happened.
Holland disappeared behind a group of umbrellas and emerged as the music changed and leather-clad dancers took the stage. The music playing was Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” and for the next minute and 45 seconds, he more than impersonated her — he became someone else entirely. Honestly, my description doesn’t do it justice. Watch the clip above, or go to YouTube to see his performance in full.
How does Holland know how to dance?
Despite that most of us know him as the adorably dorky Peter Parker, Holland has had quite a varied career up until this point. He got his start in London as a dancer and was cast in Billy Elliot the Musical at the age of 12, appearing in the show on and off for nearly two years.
It wasn’t until a bit later that Holland got into acting on screen, and Captain America: Civil War in 2016 was by far his biggest role to date at the time. Though we still love him in the MCU, this clip is hopefully indicative of what’s to come for the skilled performer. The world will be a better place if there’s more of Holland’s dancing in it.
