Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming audition "frankly was a miracle," says Marvel Studios boss

With Spider-Man: Homecoming hitting cinemas next month (can you believe it?!) the hype surrounding the newest addition to the MCU isn't quieting down anytime soon. If you were anything like me, you were pretty skeptical about letting another movie iteration of the web-slinger into your heart, but Tom Holland's cheeky, 'actually a kid' Peter Parker has won you over. 

And apparently, Marvel Studio's Kevin Feige knew that's exactly what would happen when Holland auditioned. "We looked at hundreds of kids and he came in and frankly was a miracle," Feige reveals in the new issue of SFX magazine, on sale today. "He was charming, he was sweet, he was about as normal a kid as you could imagine.

"He gave a spectacular read in every audition we made him do, including up against Robert Downey Jr, and he could handle it on a level of acting craft. At the same time his natural excitement came through - the fact he was sitting across from Robert Downey Jr doing an audition. Of course, that's exactly how Peter Parker feels when he's sitting there talking to Tony Stark."

Sounds too good to be true doesn't it? And that's not all. In case you didn't already know this, Tom Holland could have been a professional stuntman...

"The added bonus, and if it wasn't true you would think we were making it up, is that the same young actor who could do all this also happens to be a trained dancer and gymnast, and could have been hired to be the best stuntman we've ever had playing Spider-Man. 

"And that's no exaggeration. He can do all of it. There's only so much you can allow him to do as a responsible producer [laughs], but for the very first time not only is he a wonderful, age-appropriate actor but every movement of Spider-Man in the movie is him, either in an actual costume doing a stunt or doing the motion capture that becomes the computer generated character."

That's got to add another level of performance to the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming, right? I can't wait to see more of Tom Holland's Spidey. 

Read the full Spider-Man: Homecoming feature in the new issue of SFX magazine, on sale now. Or subscribe so you never miss an issue.

Lauren O'Callaghan

Lauren O'Callaghan is the former Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar+. You'd typically find Lauren writing features and reviews about the latest and greatest in pop culture and entertainment, and assisting the teams at Total Film and SFX to bring their excellent content onto GamesRadar+. Lauren is now the digital marketing manager at the National Trust.