What Happened When All 3 Spider-Man Actors Met For The First Time

Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts reveals he held a gathering between the movie’s three Spider-Man actors – Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire – as well as Zendaya and Jacob Batalon to hold a “Spider-Man therapy session” before filming began. Watt’s final Spider-Man movie is the first time Holland, Maguire, and Garfield unite on-screen as their respective Spider-Men. Along with Zendaya, Batalon, who play MJ and Ned, respectively, the movie also features Benedict Cumberbatch, Marissa Tomei, Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx.

No Way Home marked a unique moment in the history of superhero movies. The film united three separate incarnations of the same character on-screen for the first time in live-action, as Maguire and Garfield’s Spider-Men are pulled into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Following the death of Aunt May (Tomei) and his failure to cure the movie’s multiversal villains, Holland’s Parker teams up with the two other Spider-Men to help put down their collective villains. The three actors’ scenes together made audiences and cast members emotional as the characters shared banter and praised one another’s work. Now, the film’s director has shared how he and the cast helped shape the film’s emotional moments.

Speaking to Variety, Watts revealed that before he filmed any scenes featuring the three Spider-Men, he gathered Holland, Maguire, and Garfield, as well as Zendaya and Batalon, to discuss the script. Watts stated that, though he had already talked to the stars individually, the discussion allowed them to discuss the story and what the hero meant to them as a group. Emphasizing how unique the opportunity was to film with the three Spider-Men actors and how they had been through in their roles, Watts jokingly dubbed the meeting as a “Spider-Man therapy session.” Check out Watt’s full recollection below.

“We sat on folding chairs in a circle and went through the script together. I had talked to everyone separately, but to have everyone together to talk about the story, how the pieces fit together and what Spider-Man meant to them — that was exciting for me. We had the only three actors to ever play Spider-Man in a film, and each had been through so much, on and off screen. It was like a Spider-Man therapy session.”

While their chemistry on-screen was a highlight in an already quite spectacular film, it seems it extends off-screen as well. Holland has revealed there is a Spider-Man group chat between him, Maguire, and Garfield. Holland has said that he and Garfield had bumped into Maguire prior to production, at which point they shared numbers and set up a WhatsApp group. Though Holland also admitted that he might have been the only one to use the group chat. The current Peter Parker has gone so far as to describe working with his fellow Spider-Man actors as being akin to meeting long-lost brothers.

With all three characters having played one of the most iconic superheroes in the world, Watts’ “therapy sessions” were a smart move by the director. Not only are the three Spider-Men friends who share a bond outside of production and have great chemistry that could inform their dynamic on-screen, but they could work together to discuss their times in the role and what did and didn’t work in each era, both for them and their audiences. By doing this, Watts and the cast were able to make Spider-Man: No Way Home a celebration of not only the character but also of his movie legacy.

Source: Variety

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