How Tom Holland swung past 2500 contenders to become Marvel’s Spider-Man

Tom Holland is the third star to step into the shoes of Marvel's Spider-Man, but bagging this role wasn't a cakewalk. He was only a teenager when the casting process began, and he was up against more than 1500 contenders (per The Hollywood Reporter). After a thorough process, MCU's trusted casting director, Sarah Finn, shortlisted six contestants.

Holland was a part of this list along with Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Hugo), Charlie Plummer (The Return, All The Money in the World), Matthew Lintz (The Walking Dead, Ms. Marvel), Judah Lewis (The Babysitter, Suitable Flesh), and Charlie Rowe (Neverland, Salvation). The goal was to ensure that Peter Parker looked like he was from high school. So, the contenders were all between the ages of 14 and 19.

Unlike them, the previous Spider-Man stars, Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, were well in their twenties when they were cast. Regardless, Holland was eventually picked as the Spider-Man star after his chemistry read audition with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. He joined them in MCU's Captain America: Civil War, and the next year, had his own feature film, Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Sarah Finn has nothing but praise for Tom Holland.

"Spider-Man: No Way Home" - Photocall - Source: Getty

Tom Holland started working in Hollywood at a fairly young age. He was barely in his early teens when he made his feature acting debut in The Impossible, a disaster drama starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. Nearly four years later, he appeared on the big screen with industry heavyweights like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, who had already become known as MCU's definitive Iron Man and Captain America.

That was a big break for Holland, who continued working on different kinds of projects since then in hopes of exploring his acting chops. However, the MCU tentpoles have become the highlights of his career. Much like Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, he had become the Spider-Man for an entire generation.

Flash forward to almost a decade later, Holland is gearing up to be in the MCU's next chapter with Avengers: Endgame. So, looking back at Holland's journey, casting director Sarah Finn has only words of admiration for this star.

While speaking about the casting process, she recently told Variety,

“When casting is done well, people think that person fell from the sky. Actually, we read 2,500 people to arrive at Tom Holland for Spider-Man.”

She further added,

“I have my own kids, and I love them. But the first time I saw Tom Holland step out of a car and hundreds of people were screaming, I felt like a proud mom.”

Robert Downey Jr. saved Tom Holland's lines from his early MCU projects.

"Columbia Pictures World Premiere of "Spider-Man: Homecoming"" - Source: Getty

During his appearance on the Rich Roll Podcast in October 2024, Tom Holland recalled how Robert Downey Jr. helped save his lines while they were shooting for Holland's MCU debut. He said,

"When I got to set after I got the gig, my scene had been cut down significantly from what I did in the audition. It was now maybe two pages,” Holland continued. “Downey piped up: ‘Where did all of the kid’s lines go?'”

He further added,

“Downey was the one who said, ‘No, you’re going to want to spend time on this. Let’s shoot the whole thing from the audition. You can always cut it, but you’re going to want to have it,'” Holland remembered. “And they used all of it. I owe that to him. That’s really cool. I’d love to one day do that…If I’m lucky to bring Miles Morales into the MCU, I’d love to do for a young kid what Downey did for me.”

This shows that Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Holland shared almost a father-son bond on and off set as well.