Even heroes need help! Tom Holland struggled to adjust to life in the spotlight. Luckily, he had Spider-Man costar Zendaya to help him out.
The actor, 24, opened up about the transition in an interview with British GQ on Friday, February 26.
“Talking to Zendaya’s helped me a lot, actually,” he shared. “I used to come across sometimes as a bit of a d–k to fans, mainly as I was always so surprised that they’d want a picture with me or signature or whatever. I’d have a typical Londoner reaction, one of instant suspicion: ‘Why are you talking to me?'”
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Holland noted, “Zendaya spotted this and quickly told me that this sort of reaction was going to be more aggro than just smiling and taking the picture. She totally changed the way I am able to be more comfortable in public.”
The Avengers: Endgame star still has his struggles, however. Specifically when it comes to sharing his romantic life publicly. Holland said speculation about his love life is “frustrating” for a number of reasons.
“It’s very nerve-racking. It means that if you are dating someone, you have to be really conscious of their feelings, because if something does happen between the two of you, it’s not just happening between the two of you, it’s happening in front of the entire world,” he told British GQ. “And it can be very complicated. It’s one of the things I worry about most, of all the things in my career.”
The Onward actor said that reuniting with Zendaya, 24, for Spider-Man: No Way Home has been a lot of “fun.”
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Holland gushed, “It’s so fun being back with them, especially as Zendaya and I are going through similar things in our career, having taken on more adult roles to now come back to Spider-Man. I am so proud of what she has accomplished with Euphoria and also Malcolm & Marie.”
In addition to the adjustments they made together off screen, the England native and Shake it Up alum had to make tweaks to their performances on-camera. “I had to lift my voice up a couple of octaves higher and we both had to go back to playing these naive, charming teenagers again,” Holland revealed.
While he freely spilled those details, Holland has been tight-lipped about potential cameos in Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man film. Earlier this month he told Variety the studio hadn’t told him if Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield — both of whom played the web-slinger in previous films — may appear in Spider-Man 3.
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“I met Andrew once, I met him at the BAFTAs. He was lovely. He was a really nice bloke and we had a nice chat. It was quite soon after Spider-Man: Homecoming had come out. He was really positive and nice,” the Cherry actor recalled, adding that he’s “bumped into Tobey a few times at different parties in L.A.”
He added: “If they are [making cameos], they haven’t told me yet. That’s something Marvel would do. ‘So, that’s who that tennis ball was!'”
Maguire, 45, appeared in Spider-Man in 2002. He also starred in the 2004 and 2007 sequels Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3. Garfield, 37, took over in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man, returning again for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014.