Good News, Tradies: Tom Holland Credits A Carpentry Course For ‘Spider-Man’ Success

Here’s the thing about having a Plan B: sometimes, just sometimes, they can be placeholders for a successful Plan A. Just ask Tom Holland, who told GQ he was cast as Spider-Man while studying carpentry in Wales.

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Holland, who spoke to the mag after back-to-back box office hits in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home, said he actually became the Sony-Disney webslinger during a lull in his acting career.

“I was auditioning, auditioning, auditioning, and I just hit a bit of a rut. And I think, personally, and this is me being very honest, I had just done a Ron Howard film, and I thought I was dog’s bollocks,” Holland said, referring to 2015’s In The Heart Of The Sea.

The 23-year-old, who has been performing since he was a kid, said working alongside future Avengers cast-mate Chris Hemsworth made him think he was already a star.

“I wasn’t, like, taking auditions seriously, and I just thought, I’ll get this job, I’ll get this job. And I didn’t,” he said.

His mum’s solution: shipping him off to Cardiff for a six-week course in carpentry, helping him to learn a family trade while preparing him for the potential of a fizzed-out acting career.

It turns out he loved the work, which also gave him a touch of perspective when he launched back into auditions.

“My first Spider-Man audition was while I was in Cardiff,” he said, adding “it all kind of clicked” when he took the course.

Old mate dropped a few other tidbits during his chat, including some perspective on Sony’s very recent decision to yank Spider-Man – a character which Sony still owns – from the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I’ve truly had the time of my life, and in so many respects, [Marvel] made my dreams come true as an actor,” Holland said, adding “The legacy and future of Spidey rests in Sony’s safe hands.”

It seems taking a carpentry course can also teach diplomacy.

Anyway, you can read the feature and gaze upon Holland’s Tintin-esque style in the feature here. 

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