After an all-day screen-testing last Saturday of six teenage boys, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios finally announced today, Tuesday June 23rd, who will be the next Spider-Man.
The Hollywood Reporter describes the process of selecting who gets to wear the blue and red suit next “The tests cap off a worldwide search in which the producers looked at over 1,500 boys from around the world, narrowing them down to the final six only in the last two weeks or so.
The actors were flown to Atlanta for the tests; that is where Marvel is currently in production on Civil War, the movie in which the character will be introduced before going on to headline his own hopeful trilogy that will be made by Sony Pictures.
Present for the tests were Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige, former Sony head and now a Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal and Joe and Anthony Russo, the brothers who are directing Civil War.”
OFFICIAL: Marvel Studios + Sony Pictures have found our #SpiderMan star + director! Details: http://t.co/3NzEPm9KDm pic.twitter.com/WnB28qkueb
— Marvel Entertainment (@Marvel) June 23, 2015
Now we have our new Spider-Man! The British Actor Tom Holland, just 19 years old, will be directed by Jon Watts. According to ABC News Tom Holland will follow in the footsteps of
Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire on the big screen.
The news about Tom Holland being cast as the new Spider-Man was trending all day on Social Media and here are two of many reactions:
And we think it is also fair to mention another point of view and reaction to Tom Holland being cast as Spider-Man. There was hope that Mike Morales could be playing Peter Parker as the first black and Latino character, but reading Forbes “A contract between Sony Pictures and Marvel outlines “Mandatory Character Traits” Peter Parker and Spider-Man must have. Peter Parker must be a white, heterosexual male with all the basic origin story elements — Aunt May and Uncle Ben, costuming, and life in Queens, New York. Spider-Man, meanwhile, has to be a squeaky clean male (no foul language, smoking, drugs, et al) who is not gay, unless Marvel decides to portray a gay alter ego first.”Times are changing and it is up to each and every single one of us to decide what is right, and at the box office we all count.