More details have emerged of the process that led to Tom Holland being Spider-Man, and Jon Watts directing the new film...
NewsA few more details have turned up, following yesterday's announcement that Tom Holland is to be the new big screen Spider-Man, and the Jon Watts - helmer of the incoming Cop Car - is to direct the next 2017 standalone movie for the webslinger.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Watts himself wasn't involved in the search for the new Spider-Man, simply because Sony and Marvel were looking for a director at the same time as they were hunting the new Peter Parker. Tom Holland will indeed debut his Spider-Man take in Captain America: Civil War (although this hasn't been confirmed by Marvel), and over 1,500 actors were seen as part of the extensive casting process.
The casting team did indeed arrive at a shortlist of six at the end of May, where Holland went up against Charlie Rowe, Charlie Plummer, Judah Lewis, Asa Butterfield and Matthew Lintz. And Robert Downey Jr. at that stage was reportedly involved in the screen tests. Chris Evans came in to help with testing later on, when the shortlist was narrowed down to Holland and Charlie Rowe.
As for Jon Watts, he was apparently "handpicked" by Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige, impressed by his recent thriller Cop Car, and also by his take on Peter Parker/Spider-Man. He got given the Spider-Man job last weekend.
Holland, and presumably Watts, now have a trilogy of new Spider-Man films ahead of them, which purposely won't be telling the character's genesis story once again.
Spider-Man is released in July 2017. Captain America: Civil War, meanwhile, is due on May 6th, 2016. Don't be surprised if we get the first shot of Tom Holland in his Spider-Man suit sooner rather than later...
