THIS BOY’S LIFE
I owe so much to the Russo brothers, and this is just another thing that’ll go on the list,” smiles Tom Holland. “I owe them lots of dinners and bottles of wine and all sorts.” It’s January 2021, and the 24-year-old Brit – whose early promise was transformed into superstardom when he was cast as Spider-Man in the Russo brothers’ Captain America: Civil War – is reflecting on his gratitude for the filmmaking duo. Their latest gift? The lead role in Cherry, their genre-hopping romantic drama/war movie/crime caper set against the backdrop of the US’s opioid crisis. After three Marvel movies together – culminating in the highest-grossing movie of all time, Avengers: Endgame – it’s fair to call Cherry a change of pace for its directors and star.
“I was doing ADR for Avengers: Endgame, and Joe and Anthony took me aside, and told me that they’d bought the rights to this book,” continues Holland. “They were planning on making it. They wanted me to play the lead. They didn’t really tell me anything about it. I just said, ‘Look, guys, the fact that you’re even offering me a role, let alone the lead, means the world to me.’ They had every single actor at their fingertips, and I was lucky enough that they chose me.”
Sporting a mustard-yellow knitted shirt and preppy specs,
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