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Tom Holland Spider-Man Casting Resisted by Sony Until Russo Brothers Stepped In


It's hard to imagine anybody else other than Tom Holland playing the current Spider-Man. However, there was a time when Sony was firmly against casting the young actor for the coveted role. Luckily, the Russo brothers intervened but it was a difficult fight for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

We already know that hundreds of young actors auditioned for the role of Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot. Nevertheless, Holland caught the eye of Joe and Anthony Russo, who were eager to cast him in the part.

Although Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige supported the idea, Joe Russo confirmed with GQ UK that they had some trouble convincing Sony Pictures.

"We talked with Feige at Marvel about Holland and he got excited and then we went to Sony… And they were like, ‘Let's think about it for a minute.' We could tell we were meeting resistance from Sony," Joe said.

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Interestingly, the Russos were undeterred as they kept fighting to get Holland cast as Spider-Man.

"So we brought [Holland] back, brought him back, brought him back, and we were relentless in our pursuit of jamming him down the throat of the studio who owns this IP. It came down to a fight, yet Sony just kept dragging their feet," Joe stated.

But why was Sony so against casting Holland as Spider-Man? As it turns out, it had a lot to do with his age. Holland had only turned 19 when he finally got the part while the previous Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were already well into their 20s.

Nevertheless, it looks like the Russos were right all along. The younger Spider-Man fit perfectly in the MCU and led two very successful films. Needless to say, we have to thank the Russo brothers for fighting to cast Holland as the new webslinger.

Holland stars in the Russos' latest film Cherry, which was released theatrically on February 26 and will stream on Apple TV+ on March 12. Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled for release on December 17.

Related: Robert Downey Jr. Doesn't Want Tom Holland to Play Spider-Man For a Long Time

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