Tom Holland Ruined His ‘Star Wars’ Audition by Laughing
As an actor, Tom Holland is known for playing Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland has played the character in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
He will play Spider-Man again in the upcoming Marvel film Spider-Man: No Way Home. While Holland is beloved for his role as Spider-Man, the actor also auditioned for another major franchise, Star Wars.
Tom Holland auditioned for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered in 2015 and stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, John Boyega as Finn, and Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron. The movie also featured the return of Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
In an interview with Backstage Magazine, Holland revealed that he auditioned for Finn before Boyega was cast in the role. Holland did not get the part, and he attributes losing the role to the fact he could not stop laughing during the audition.
“I remember my audition for Star Wars, I was like four or five auditions in, and I think I was auditioning for John Boyega’s role. I remember doing this scene with this lady, bless her, and she was just a drone. So I was doing all of this, like, ‘We gotta get back to the ship!’ And she was going, ‘Bleep, bloop bloop, bleep bloop,'” Holland said.
He continued, “I just couldn’t stop laughing. I found it so funny. And I felt really bad, because she was trying really hard to be a convincing android or drone or whatever they’re called. Yeah, I obviously didn’t get the part. That wasn’t my best moment.”
The Marvel actor has a trick to help with auditions
While speaking with Backstage Magazine, Holland delved more into his audition process and acting inspirations.
The Marvel actor revealed that he also has a trick he typically uses during auditions, saying:
“I have this little cheat that I used to do where I would get something really wrong in the first take in the room, so that the casting director would be like, ‘You should try and do it a little bit more like this. And then I would do it how I’d actually planned on doing it, and it would show them that I was really good at taking direction. That’s a little trick that I used to do, just to kind of show people that I was malleable and able to work with others.”
Tom Holland is currently filming ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’
A third Spider-Man film titled Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to be released as part of Phase Four of the MCU on Dec. 17, 2021. While working on the movie, Holland became obsessed with the new Disney+ show WandaVision.
In an interview with Collider, Holland admitted it was difficult to be surrounded by Marvel producers on the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home and not ask for WandaVision spoilers.
“I am obsessed with WandaVision. It’s so difficult because obviously I’m on a Marvel set at the moment. So all of the producers are there, and I could just go up to Kevin Feige and be like, ‘So what happens? What’s going on?’ It’s really difficult for me to not ask the questions I want the answers to,” Holland said.
