When Tom Holland nabbed the role of the MCU’s Spider-Man, it was the result of auditions upon auditions Marvel conducted to find the right Peter Parker to follow Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield and join the Avengers for their most intense battles yet. At one point even Tony Revolori, who plays Flash Thompson in Homecoming and Far From Home tried his hand at becoming the webslinger! In his words:
I auditioned for Peter Parker years and years ago, before Tom was cast as well, when they were trying to find their Spider-Man. And that was open ethnicity call. They were just looking for everyone, which was really fun. I did terribly at the audition.
Wow, in some other multiverse, Flash is Peter Parker and Tom Holland is the bully. Tony Revolori did have an impressive resume to show for before Spider-Man: Homecoming. He was Zero in Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and Jib in Dope (alongside Spider-Verse’s Miles Morales, Shameik Moore).
As proved in Tom Holland’s standout performance as Peter Parker across five movies, we can’t imagine anyone else playing the webslinger in the MCU. Although it’s certainly notable that Marvel was going the open ethnicity call route. While Holland himself doesn’t exactly shake up the typical ethnic diversity of the role, all his classmates do-- and Tony Revolori was given a couple more shots to be in the MCU. Here’s what else he said to Deadline’s New Hollywood Podcast:
Then I came back and auditioned for what then would be the role Ned, for Spider-Man’s best friend played by Jacob. And I went maybe I want to say three or for auditions, auditioning for Ned. When finally they gave me another role to play, which was the bully.
During his audition for Flash, the actor said he wasn’t originally told who he was reading for. Since he really is a comic book fan, and he was given the lines of Biff from Back to the Future, he put two and two together. Throughout the audition process, he was given all these opportunities but didn’t expect a role typically played by a 6’2 blonde-haired blue-eyed jock would be given to him; Tony Revolori is of Guatemalan heritage.
Tony Revolori also told the podcast that he thinks he might have messed up his Spider-Man audition, because he felt like he needed to explain why he could play Peter Parker. The character has long donned a specific look and he didn’t match it. But what Marvel didn’t take chances on with their lead, they definitely make up for in the rest of the cast.
Jon Watts’ Spider-Man movies have more realistically represented Brooklyn, by replacing all white characters with Zendaya’s MJ, Jacob Batalon’s Ned. And Crazy Rich Asians’ Remy Hii, transgender actor Zach Barack and muslim actress and model Zoha Rahman also now in the mix for Far From Home.
The Homecoming sequel picks up after the Decimation in Endgame, explaining the aftermath of the two Avengers films on the world. The film made $3 million on Tuesday midnight showings opening night and is expected to make at least $125 million domestically during its six-day debut. Check it out in theaters now!
