Tom Holland Says the Hardest Stunt of His Career Never Even Made It Into the Movie
If you've watched Tom Holland swing across New York as Spider-Man and thought those stunts looked brutal, it turns out the toughest hit he's ever taken wasn't in a Marvel movie at all. In fact, the stunt didn't even make the final cut.
While chatting with Matt Damon for Complex, the Spider-Man: Brand New Day star looked back on the most painful stunt he's ever attempted, and it happened during an action sequence where he was battling an alien. The frustrating part? The camera operator completely missed it.
Holland explained: "I think my favorite stunt I've ever done is something I was advised not to do, and it never made the cut of the film. And it was with a good friend of yours, Doug Liman.
“It's called a 'Dead Man' and you wear the full harness. I always wanted to do it... it was this sequence where I'm supposed to be charging at this alien, and it was supposed to kick me in the throat and throw me on the ground.
“And they were going to try and do it with CG, but I really wanted to create this strong snapback. So essentially you wear the harness, tie yourself to a fixed point, and run away from the point. And when the line goes taut, you just... whack!"
Unfortunately for Holland, after throwing himself into the stunt, the shot was over before the camera operator could properly capture it.
He continued: "The cameraman missed it, because it happened so quickly. I didn't anticipate it hurting as much as it did. It winded me beyond belief, but [there] was something about it that I loved."
That stunt was performed during the 2021 sci-fi film Chaos Walking, which was directed by Doug Liman and adapted from Patrick Ness' novel The Knife of Never Letting Go. Ness also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Doug Ford, who previously worked on Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The movie starred Holland as Todd, a young man living on a dystopian world where women no longer exist. His life is turned upside down when Viola, played by Daisy Ridley, unexpectedly crash-lands on the planet.
Even with an impressive cast that also included Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and Mads Mikkelsen, Chaos Walking struggled both critically and commercially.
During the conversation, Damon admitted he couldn't believe Holland actually volunteered to perform the stunt himself. But that's pretty much become Holland's trademark.
Anyone who's watched the making-of featurettes for his Spider-Man films knows he jumps at every opportunity to perform as much of the physical work as possible instead of leaving it to stunt doubles.
Fans can expect plenty more of that when Spider-Man: Brand New Day hits theaters. Many of the movie's action sequences were inspired by Insomniac's Spider-Man video games, and if Holland's track record is any indication, there's a good chance he threw himself into those stunts with the same enthusiasm... hopefully with a few fewer camera operators missing the shot this time.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31.