Tom Holland Secretly Enrolled in a New York High School for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Research
Tom Holland recently did a live Q&A on the official Spider-Man Facebook page to answer some questions from the fans and revealed a few interesting things. One of the more interesting things he talked about was how he prepared for the role by secretly enrolling in a New York City high school!
The young actor had never been to an American high school so he wanted to get a little taste of what it was like before he played a kid who attended one. It was definitely an interesting experience for him, and during his time there he actually told one of the kids that he was Spider-Man. Of course, the kid didn't believe him. Here's his story:
“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.
“I told one person. I told one kid at the school. I was like ‘Hey man, listen, I’m actually Spider-Man.’ He did not believe me… 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…. 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.'”
That sounds like it must've been a strange and surreal experience, but at least he had some fun with it! It sounds to me like he may have done this on his own without any assistance from Marvel. Judging from what we saw in the trailer, that little secret research trip paid off for him.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is being directed by Jon Watts and it;s set to be released on July 7th, 2017.