Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has awesome superpowers – and soon we will get to see him use the one where he dances.
Holland, well-known as the Marvel hero after starring in “Avengers” movies and three solo “Spider-Man” films, has been cast as Fred Astaire, the most acclaimed dancer in motion picture history, in producer Amy Pascal’s upcoming biopic of the cinematic legend.
“Oh, I am playing Fred Astaire,” the 25-year-old said at an event Sunday in London. “Yeah, I am.”
The actor is working script-unseen at this point, but has had communication with his producer.
“They haven’t given it to me,” he said. “Amy Pascal has the script. She FaceTimed me earlier. I was in the bath and we had a lovely FaceTime.”
Studio RKO famously paired Fred Astaire with Ginger Rogers in 1933’s “Flying Down to Rio,” and the rest was history. His film oeuvre also includes the classics “Top Hat,” “Funny Face” and “Easter Parade” and “Swing Time.” (Holland is quite a bit younger than Astaire was when he hit the big time – when “Flying Down to Rio” came out, the dancer was already in his early 30s.)
“No dancers ever reached a wider public,” dance critic Arlene Croce wrote in “The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book” in 1972, “and the stunning fact is that Astaire and Rogers, whose love scenes were their dances, became the most popular team the movies have ever known.”
Astaire was 88 when he died in 1987 at a Century City hospital. “He had a very complete and full life. He was a very happy man,” his widow, the late Robyn Smith, told The Times after his death.
Holland’s dance background includes a history of acrobatics and street dance that led to him working as a tween in “Billy Elliott: The Musical” in London from 2008 to 2010. Six years later, he would don the Spidey suit for the first time in “Captain America: Civil War.”
Holland has played Spidey in six films so far, including three produced by Pascal: “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and the upcoming “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which hits theaters Dec. 17. The others have all been “Avengers” films, directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo.
And the superhero job seems secure.
“I’ve talked to him about doing, like, 100 more,” Pascal told GQ last month. “I’m never going to make Spider-Man movies without him. Are you kidding me?”
Joe Russo, who along with his brother has directed Holland in three “Avengers” movies where the actor has played the Webslinger, told the magazine, “Tom is stepping into the role that Robert Downey once occupied for Marvel, which is the favorite character, and in a lot of ways the soul of the Marvel universe.” Holland also starred in the brothers’ 2021 movie, “Cherry.”
If they want to see Holland don the Spidey suit again, however, they’ll have to re-sign him to the gig: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” closes out his multifilm “Spider-Man” contract. It likely won’t be much of a fight.
“I’ve always said to them if they want me back I’ll be there in a heartbeat,” Holland told Collider in February.
Getting back to the Astaire movie, which has no estimated release date: Alas, there’s no word yet on who might play Ginger Rogers.
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