I can think of very few people who would voluntarily go back to high school. On the other hand, English actor Tom Holland didn’t have any actual memories of the American high school experience to fall back on for Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Image: Marvel/Sony
Holland did a Q&A on Facebook Live, where he described something he did to prepare (quotes via Coming Soon):
The coolest thing I think I did for the movie was I was enrolled in a high school in New York, in the Bronx, as a secret. No one knew who I was or what I was doing. I had a fake name and a fake accent. I went to school for three days. It was really fun. It was really interesting because New York high schools are so different to schools that I went to in London. Where I went to a school where you have to wear a suit and tie and it’s all boys, and for me it was the first time that I was in a classroom with girls. It was a really strange experience, it was really fun.
It was only fun because you weren’t living it for years, Tom. I promise you. I’m dying to know how the people behind this film explained what “homecoming” is to him. Because I have tried to explain it to our resident Brit, James Whitbrook, a few times, and it sounds ridiculous every time I do it.
Also, you only went for three days? Man, Jared Leto would have gone for years, found a radioactive spider to bite him and run around New York City fighting crime. Leto spits at your paltry “preparation”, Tom.
Holland also says that he told one kid, “Hey man, listen, I’m actually Spider-Man,” and was not believed at all. “At the time I hadn’t made the movie, so I didn’t have any pictures to show him to prove that I was Spider-Man,” he said. “No one believed me. Which is actually a good thing, because it makes me think that if Peter Parker went up in his school and was like, ‘I’m Spider-Man,’ everyone would be like, ‘Nah dude, no you’re not.’”
It’s New York. They wouldn’t just say “No you’re not.” Let’s be honest here.
Watch the whole video here:
[Facebook via Coming Soon]