For Marvel fans, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is very much in the business of making dreams come true. Under his watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become a cultural force, bringing to life on the big screen iconic stories and characters in ways that have never been seen before, but have long been on wish lists for fans around the world. It turns out that his wish-granting powers aren’t limited to fans, however. Feige also made a very specific career dream for Spider-Man star Tom Holland as well.
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During the red carpet for Spider-Man: Far From Home Wednesday, Feige spoke a bit about how much a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal Holland is and how it turned out that working with the Mysterio actor is something that was at the top of Holland’s list — and Feige made it happen.
“We really wanted to work with Jake for years and as often happens in the MCU, the perfect thing comes along at the perfect time and the perfect actor steps into the role and that’s what happened,” Feige said. “We also knew Tom was a big fan of Jake and after we cast him, maybe on the first or second day of shooting Tom Holland came up to me and said ‘you know, last year I wrote sort of a wish list of everything I wanted to accomplish’, I think his manager said write down everything you want to accomplish, who you want to work with and that will help set your course as you pursue your career. And the first name he wrote on ‘who I want to work with’, and he showed it to me, Jake Gyllenhaal. And he didn’t tell us that until after they had already started working together.”
Of course, while working with Gyllenhaal on the movie may have been on Holland’s wish list, working out with the actor may not have been. On a recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Holland recounted how going to the gym with Gyllenhaal in China completely kicked his butt. Despite being wiped out in warmups, Holland pressed on to go for a run — and ended up not being able to walk.
“We set off, we start running, and there’s a law in the gym that you can’t run slower than the guy next to you. So, I’m running next to him, two minutes in I’ve got a stitch, I’m wishing everything was over but I’m saying, ‘There’s nothing that’s gonna’ get me off this treadmill,’” Holland said. At this point, he still didn’t know what he had gotten himself into. “‘I will beat Jake Gyllenhaal in this race.’ And then like three, four minutes in, he goes, ‘Tom, this is too easy. Let’s up the incline.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, let’s do it!’ We up the incline, four, five more kilometers go by, he goes, ‘This is too easy. Let’s up it to three!’ I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, fine, yeah, sure Jake, absolutely.’ Finally, we’ve got a kilometer left and he’s like, ‘Let’s do 3.5,’ and I’m like, ‘Let’s do 4. Why 3.5? Why stop there?’ Then we’re doing press later that day and I can’t walk.”
That day was a tough one for Holland. “Genuinely, I’m sitting there, and a journalist goes, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I said, ‘Well, I do all of my own stunts,” the actor concluded.
Spider-Man: Far From Home opens in theaters on July 2.
