‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Directors Reveal How They Got Tom Holland’s Arm-Hair to Stand Up

Avengers: Infinity Warsp has many now-iconic shots and images that Marvel fans have burned into their collective memory, but one that had fans buzzing with excitement (pun) is the shot which finally confirmed that Spider-Man‘s Spider-Sense power actually exists in the MCU. However, according to Infinity War directors Joe and Anthony Russo, that shot wasn’t created the way that a lot of fans have guessed!

The presiding theory has always been that the first visual example of Peter Parker’s Spider-Sense was created using a lot of CGI effects; however, The Russos reveal on the Avengers: Infinity War commentary track that this is not the case: a lot of the work was done using a very unorthodox method of achieving the effect in much more practical manner:

Joe Russo: “We get asked this all the time. How did we get the hair on Tom Holland’s arm to stand up?”

Anthony Russo: “In our New York Times ‘Anatomy of This Scene’ we finally revealed…a lot of people think it’s a CG shot, but it was actually achieved by a very gentle blowing on Tom’s ear.”

Just so we’re clear: This is comment isn’t said in jest: The Russos apparently did create the shot by giving Tom Holland legitimate heebie jeebies by blowing on his ear (and likely some help from CGI)! In case you’re not all that familiar with the behind-the-scenes process of making a movie: this is the reality of what it’s like. The proverbial “movie magic” is often created through some of the oddest and least glamorous means possible. For example: just try imagining how many times Holland had to film that scene – and how many times he had to have someone blowing on his ear in a potentially creepy way. One would like to believe that it was a one-and-done part of production, but that’s rarely how it goes.

In any event, they got the shot, and Marvel fans got what is arguably the best cinematic expression of Spider-Sense that we’ve seen (so far). Just another interesting little bit of Marvel Cinematic Universe trivia – one that could make you the smart one in forthcoming discussions with friends and other fans.

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital platforms and lands on DVD and Blu-ray on August 14. Ant-Man and the Wasp is now in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.