Robert Downey Jr. Saved Tom Holland’s First Spider-Man Scene From Cut

Tom Holland appeared on the “Rich Roll Podcast” and remembered how Robert Downey Jr. stepped up on his behalf during his first time filming as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Holland debuted as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War.” His first scene required him to act opposite Downey’s Tony Stark/Iron Man.

“When I had to take my mark and do my scene with Downey it was really overwhelming,” Holland said. “I am very grateful to Downey. When I did my [screen test] it was eight pages of dialogue. It was a long scene. It went great. I was told by my agent to learn the lines exactly. When I did my first take with Downey, he just started improvising everything and changing it all. That gave me license to follow him. You can’t beat Downey, but you can ride his coattails. And those are good coattails to ride. I just followed his lead and we improvised. I thought after that I audition that I got it. It went so well.”

“When I got to set after I got the gig, my scene had been cut down significantly from what I did in the audition. It was now maybe two pages,” Holland continued. “Downey piped up: ‘Where did all of the kid’s lines go?’”

“Captain America: Civil War” directors Joe and Anthony Russo tried to explain to Downey that their script was already massive and they couldn’t spend time on the full scene that Holland auditioned with. Downey had other plans.

“Downey was the one who said, ‘No, you’re going to want to spend time on this. Let’s shoot the whole thing from the audition. You can always cut it, but you’re going to want to have it,’” Holland remembered. “And they used all of it. I owe that to him. That’s really cool. I’d love to one day do that…If I’m lucky to bring Miles Morales into the MCU I’d love to do for a young kid what Downey did for me.”

Holland also revealed that he “polished off the mini bar” the night before his first screen test with Downey and “Marvel found out about that.” Marvel Studios president later told Holland that they knew he got drunk on the even of the test. The actor has since given up alcohol and is now sober. He recently launched a non-alcoholic beer brand called Bero.

Holland’s debut as Spider-Man in “Civil War” made him an instant fan favorite in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’d go on to headline his own movie in 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and appear in two more standalone tentpoles and various other Avengers movie. Marvel and Sony are currently developing a fourth standalone film for Holland’s Spider-Man.

Watch Holland’s full interview on the “Rich Roll Podcast” in the video below.