Spider-Man: No Way Home star Tom Holland has had nothing but good things to say about the movie, but the journey to get the finished product to the screen doesn't sound like a particularly easy or straightforward one. While the production was by no means troubled, it sounds like another Marvel Studios movie that faced challenges along the way (which, in the past, has yielded great results...like 2008's Iron Man).
Even as cameras started rolling, Holland tells GQ that a number of key cast members still hadn't signed on. "Some people were trying to figure out whether they wanted to do it, and we needed all of them or none," the actor explains before the site confirms that the decision to release No Way Home before Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness required changes to the plot.
"You could ask the director, ‘What happens in act three?’ And his response would be, ‘I’m still trying to figure it out,’" Holland says, revealing that this did cause some issues during the "crazy" final battle.
"I kept stopping and being like, ‘I’m so sorry, I just don’t believe what I’m saying." Director Jon Watts took him to one side and, "We sat down, we went through it, and we came up with a new idea. When we pitched it to the writers, they rewrote it, and it works great."
While there has been speculation about Peter Parker receiving some help during that final battle against some of the Multiverse's greatest villains, Holland once again addressed rumours about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield with what's become a familiar answer. "No one believes me, but they’re not in the film." We understand why he can't spill the beans, but no one is buying that at this stage!
It appeared there were some unfinished visual effects in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer released last night, so it's possible those rumours that Sony is rushing to finish the movie will prove to be correct.
Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives in U.S. on December 17 and in the UK on December 15.