Even though Spider-Man: No Way Home continues to perform at the box office, Spider-Man fans, along with Marvel and Sony, are already eyeing its upcoming Blu-ray release and its potential to defy the odds this coming awards season. While Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Men reprisals could be considered fan service, their roles within the film served the story while also complementing Tom Holland's Spider-Man arc and his performance.
Audiences will have to wait a little longer for the threequel's home release and to see if it brings home an Oscar, but fans are just now getting to hear from the cast about their experience in shooting the film.
In addition to Tobey Maguire finally breaking his silence, Tom Holland is addressing more of No Way Home's spoilery details while reminiscing on filming alongside Maguire and Garfield; and according to him, actual events between the three actors actually contributed to how certain scenes appeared in the film.
How Tom, Tobey, and Andrew Changed Their No Way Home Goodbye
Among Spider-Man: No Way Home's scenes between Tom Holland's Peter Parker and those of Maguire and Garfield, one in particular that fans connected with was Holland's Peter thanking the two former Spider-Men.
While, in the context of the film, Holland's Peter is thanking the other Spideys for their help, fans also felt the moment meant something more. Holland's Peter seemed to be thanking Maguire and Garfield for their tenures as the character and for choosing to be No Way Home.
When asked by The Hollywood Reporter if that was also on his mind during the shoot, Holland not only confirmed that sentiment but also that the scene was inspired by an actual exchange between the three actors saying, "I said to them, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this. Thank you for being here. Thank you for elevating Spider-Man in the ways that you have':"
"Yeah, that moment was actually inspired by something that actually happened. We were on set shooting the rooftop scene where I meet the boys for the first time, and before one of the takes … It must have been my close-up or something. It was one that really, really required me to bring the emotion to the shot. So I went up to the two boys on the level that they were standing, and I said to them, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this. Thank you for being here. Thank you for elevating Spider-Man in the ways that you have. Thank you for being so gracious and allowing me to share this with you. Thank you for taking a leap of faith and coming back.'”
Holland went on to say that Jon Watts, Amy Pascal, and the film's writers were inspired by this real-life moment and decided to use it in the film for how the three Peters "say goodbye to each other:"
"Tobey hadn’t acted in nearly 10 years, so we all embraced each other, and we were all crying because it meant so much to us. And Jon Watts, Amy Pascal and the writers saw this moment between the three of us and were like, 'Brilliant! Well, now we know how they’re going to say goodbye to each other.' So essentially, we just reshot that very real moment between the three of us."
When asked about the film's other emotional goodbye, Holland admitted that the final scenes between him, Zendaya's MJ, and Jacob Batalon's Ned, were "incredibly tough for lots of different reasons:"
"They were incredibly tough. They were incredibly tough for lots of different reasons. We all felt like we were saying goodbye to these characters that we had been playing for the last seven years because we’re uncertain about what the future of Spider-Man might be. So it felt like a goodbye. Obviously, it’s not a goodbye in real life because we’re all going to be connected as we are. But it was tough; it was really tough."
Despite Spider-Man: No Way Home's rave reviews and record-breaking box office run, Holland hasn't confirmed his return as the web-slinger just yet.
In terms of Watts, who's set to direct the MCU's Fantastic Four, the actor had nothing but praise, particularly when it came to shooting the film's emotional scenes which - according to Holland - were shot "over a couple of days. So when you commit to a crying scene, you're crying for two days:"
"And those emotional scenes are just difficult. When you make these big films, you don’t shoot scenes in a couple hours; you shoot them over a couple days. So when you commit to a crying scene, you’re crying for two days, flat out, and it’s tiring. But Jon Watts is a great director, he’s a very generous director, and he’s very understanding of the acting process. So he was fantastic."
How No Way Home Paralleled the Real World
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a film that - in terms of logistics - shouldn't exist. After all, if any of the film's legacy characters, Maguire and Garfield in particular, had passed on the opportunity, No Way Home would've been a dramatically different story.
This fact doesn't appear to be lost on Holland. In addition to mentioning that Maguire hadn't acted in a decade, in his thanks to the two actors, Holland acknowledged that they were sharing a character with him and joining the film was "a leap of faith."
Still, despite how miraculous the reality of the film is, this isn't the first time a Spider-Man star has talked about improvising or contributing to different moments in the script.
According to Andrew Garfield, he came up with the idea for the film's Spider-Man meme pointing scene in the school laboratory, and he actually improvised the moment where he tells Maguire and Holland, "I love you guys,". Additionally, Zendaya came up with the response to MJ being saved by Garfield's Spider-Man which, of course, also made it into the final cut of the film.
Just like the fans, it appears that No Way Home's creators also recognized the parallels between the film's story and reality. While two former Spider-Man actors were helping the current Spidey complete his trilogy, in the film, two older Spider-Men were helping the MCU's young Spidey deal with his own challenges.
Not only did Watts, Pascal, and the writers realize life was imitating art, but they were willing to let life contribute to that art as well. It's one of the many reasons why Spider-Man: No Way Home resonates with audiences and will continue to do so for years to come.
Spider-Man: Way Home is now playing in theaters worldwide.
