Warning: this article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
For Spider-Man: No Way Home fans who thought the emotion in certain scenes oozed a little too easily through the screen to be made up, star Tom Holland is revealing a particular moment near the end of the film was indeed inspired by a genuine moment off-camera.
The blockbuster behemoth that has already become the sixth highest-grossing movie worldwide is still in theaters as we speak. Holland’s insights about the film involve two other certain actors whose long-rumored involvement Marvel Studios took great pains to keep secret. But now that the movie has finally made it to theaters, Holland and others can now freely discuss those not-so-well-kept spoilers.
Warning: from this point forward, the article will contain spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The scene in question occurs near the end of the film when Tom Holland’s Spider-Man profusely repeats, “thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you” to the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield versions of the character, from across the multiverse, as they tearfully share a triumphant group hug.
The emotionally heavy beat works well in the context of the film since the trio just got done defeating a rogue’s gallery of foes, most notably Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, not by merely killing them but curing the ailments that made them supervillains in the first place. Maguire and Garfield’s older, wiser Spider-Men mentoring Holland’s Spidey was essential to the heroes pulling off the multiverse-level threat.
According to Holland, the way that scene played out was inspired by a moment off-camera when he expressed similar gushing gratitude to Garfield and Maguire for agreeing to appear in the film after they both had somewhat low points to end on in their respective web-head franchises.
“We were on set shooting the rooftop scene where I meet the boys for the first time,” Holland recalled in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Holland said because he was getting ready for an important take that really required him to “bring the emotion to the shot,” he decided to approach the other Spider-Men.
“So I went up to the two boys on the level that they were standing, and I said to them, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this. Thank you for being here. Thank you for elevating Spider-Man in the ways that you have. Thank you for being so gracious and allowing me to share this with you. Thank you for taking a leap of faith and coming back.'”
Holland said he was particularly grateful to Maguire since the Brothers star had taken a considerable step back from the silver screen after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy.
“So we all embraced each other, and we were all crying because it meant so much to us. And Jon Watts, Amy Pascal and the writers saw this moment between the three of us and were like, ‘Brilliant! Well, now we know how they’re going to say goodbye to each other.’ So essentially, we just reshot that very real moment between the three of us,” he said.
Watch Spider-Man: No Way Home in theaters now and on digital March 1. The special features-packed Blu-Ray is also expected to be released some time next month.