Actor Tom Holland is currently in production on Spider-Man: Brand New Day — or, based on the rumors, his stunt double is currently in production on Spider-Man: Brand New Day while Holland does a covert stint on Avengers: Doomsday. Either way, in a new interview with LadBible, the 29-year-old star of The Lost City of Z admits that he’s had enough time between filming scenes for the MCU to relentlessly check what “the fans” want out of the next Spider-Man movie.
“I have been actively sifting through the internet and trying to best understand what it is that the fans want from a Spider-Man movie,” Holland said while on the promotional campaign for [checks notes] his new Lego commercial. “I think the producers, at times were like, absolutely sick of me, but I think it’s really important, because we make these movies for [the fans].”
Tom, my guy… get outta there!!!!
Holland’s team-up with Lego is actually pretty noble: The extended spot finds the actor in a number of wacky getups like he’s in Cloud Atlas and preaching the importance of play. The actor says the message hit home as a person diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, where the freedom of “play” translated to a passion for creating characters and imagining stories. The effect Lego can specifically have on the brain is real, so despite giving us the nightmare fuel of Holland dressed up as an old man, the campaign is a welcome dose of reality from a talent who mostly sticks to mega-blockbusters.
But you know what does not have a positive effect on the brain? “Sifting through the internet” to hear from people who think they know what the next Spider-Man movie is or needs to be about. According to CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), studies show people with ADHD are often time-blind, thus prone to endless scrolling and greater internet addiction.
And as someone who also dunks their head into the muck of MCU rumor-mongering on a regular basis, boy, it’s bad out there. With production on Brand New Day ramping up, “insiders” have been promising an array of villains, then quietly walking back each other’s reports, as their locked-in audience speculates on what might be. Based on Reddit alone, there are probably 4,000 different ways the story for Brand New Day could or should go. This is par for the course for a giant superhero movie, but seems absolutely deadly for anyone involved with making the actual movie.
Holland hasn’t quite found his footing as a star outside the MCU. After No Way Home broke box-office records, Holland missed with the Russos on the dismal Apple drama Cherry, turned Uncharted into a huge box-office win that still doesn’t seem to exist, and did some TV. Holland wished out loud that the MCU might move on from his version of Spider-Man after No Way Home gave him an out but… no, he’s still in it. But a big part in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey could be the prestige boost he needs to really rev up his non-Marvel career. As long as he can get off his phone.
Tom, if you’re reading this: Log off. Even if you make movies “for the fans,” the true die-hard social-media-posting fans won’t lead you to glory because they’re figuring out how to have a stable relationship with their favorite things in public. And if the producers of your Captain America: Civil War sequel were “absolutely sick” of you, I fear you’ve drilled too far down.
Zendaya, if you’re reading this: Please delete any Joe Rogan podcasts off Tom’s app.
If Holland needs something to focus on, may I recommend whatever director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi) and his stunt team are cooking up. Because it already looks sick! Here’s what the fans really want, from what I can tell: a thrilling time at the movies. I did not check X to figure that out.
