There’s a scene inSpider-Man: Far From HomewhereTom HollandandJake Gyllenhaalshake hands.
(We promise no spoilers lie ahead!)
“Tom was tired, and he just couldn’t keep it together,” Gyllenhaal explains.
That went on for about 30 minutes.
It was about 45 to 50 takes, and it was a disaster."
“I don’t even remember what was funny about it,” Holland adds.
“There was something about the scene where Jake and I just could not keep a straight face.”
“They really just got along almost immediately.
On the surface, Holland and Gyllenhaal don’t have much in common.
But they’re also both theater nerds who first catapulted to movie stardom as teenagers.
“He’s had some bad uncle experiences.”
For Holland, he drew inspiration for the mentor-mentee relationship from real life.
“It’s always a bit nerve-wracking when you meet someone you look up to,” Holland says.
But the offers of advice went both ways.
(“You get literally thrown into the Marvel universe,” he jokes.)
“You walk into a Marvel film, and it’s huge,” he explains.
“They’re massive.
In a way, you’re expected to just jump on the train and get going.
For me, it takes me a second.
I get a bit overwhelmed on any set, and it takes some time to warm up.”
So, after the first few days of filming, Holland pulled Gyllenhaal aside just to check in.
Everyone does, he added.
“You go, ‘Wait a minute!
Don’t I need to learn my lines?’
“I really looked up to him in that sense.
He did it in such a kind way.
Actors, you don’t always easily exchange that kind of kindness.
[Sometimes] people offer help, or they don’t want it, or there’s egos involved.
There was just no ego [from Tom].”
There may not have been ego, but there sure was a lot of giggling.
Superhero movies may end, but friendship is forever.
