Every one of us would be a little bit nervous if we met Robert Downey Jr. Tom Holland had to audition with him, which made the experience that much more nerve-wracking.The young actor was apparently so off his game that when he arrived in the room and saw Downey, he went up to him to introduce himself and became incredibly nervous, before realizing it wasn't actually him. According to Holland...
I walk into this audition and I see him and freak out a little bit inside. I go up to him... and I'm starting to get really breathy and I'm looking at him going, 'Wow, you're different in person. You don't look the same at all.'
Apparently, the person in the room looked enough like Robert Downey Jr. From a distance, but upon closer examination, it turned out to not actually be him. Tom Holland told Extra that he confirmed the person he was with wasn't Downey when the real one came into the room for the audition. As it turned out there was a reason that Holland thought the first guy was the actor from a distance.
Then Robert walked in and I realized I'd been talking to his stunt double the whole time.
One can only imagine how nervous one would be meeting Robert Downey Jr, now try to imagine having to go through the emotional roller coaster of meeting him twice. That's essentially what Tom Holland had to do as he started to go through the experience of walking up to him when it wasn't really him, only to then have the actor walk into the room.
As a talented actor, we're betting that Tom Holland used that experience when it came time to shoot Spider-Man: Homecoming and Captain America: Civil War. In a lot of ways, the relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark mirrored that of Tom Holland and Robert Downey Jr. When we first meet Peter in Civil War he's more than a little in shock over meeting Iron Man. It's possible that Holland wasn't so much acting as he was letting his natural nervousness show through while filming the scene.
With Spider-Man: Homecoming almost here we're guessing that Tom Holland now sees Robert Downey Jr as just another one of the guys. One of many that he works with, and it's no big deal. Certainly, by the time the next two Avengers movies come along, Tom Holland will have met everybody in the MCU and probably have them on speed dial. Of course, after Homecoming comes out Tom Holland himself will be a huge star and then at some point down the road, some other young actor will talk about the time they were so nervous meeting him.
