While landing the lead role in both Marvel Studio’s Spider-Man series and the upcoming Uncharted adaptation might seem like a geeky dream come true, according to Tom Holland it’s no easy feat. Shortly following the young star coming forward with news that the next Spider-Man movie, No Way Home, is going to be “dark,” “sad,” and “not fun,” Holland took to GQ to share his experience on the set of Uncharted as well — and it doesn’t sound too pretty.
According to Holland, filming the Uncharted movie was so strenuous, it “broke him,” causing the actor 25-year-old actor to experience severe body pain as well as develop tendinitis. While Holland has never shied away from action movies and physically demanding roles, the actor remarked that working on Uncharted was ultimately a very different experience from working on Marvel movies. Whereas Marvel Studio’s utilizes CG and protective costumes to keep Holland from taking too much damage while web-slinging and wall-crawling, Holland remarked that in Uncharted it was merely cargo pants and a henley that we’re keeping him from getting injured.
“I never realized how lucky I am that Spider-Man wears a mask, because when he’s bouncing around and flying from buildings, that’s all CG. In Uncharted it’s just me in a henley and cargo pants,” he said. “That film absolutely broke me.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Holland spoke about how exhausting his time on Uncharted was. Earlier this year, he told Esquire he would “never do a sword-fight scene ever again” after getting “battered and bruised” on set. Based on the source material the Uncharted movie is being adapted from (an action-packed Indiana Jones-esque adventure game), it comes as little surprise Holland’s stunts were demanding. However, based on the young actor’s comments, it begins to sound nearly negligent.
“I was getting so beat,” he says of performing a myriad of stunts on set. “I was battered and bruised, and I had tendinitis in my hamstring. I will never do a sword-fight scene ever again.”
Holland remarked he was sure age and years of stunts was part of the issue, telling GQ “I was going to the gym in the morning like, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve must have torn something in my leg,’ and the guys were like, ‘You haven’t, you’re just tired and you’re getting older,’” but even still it sounds like he had an especially rough time portraying legendary treasure hunter Nate Drake. However, that hasn’t stopped Holland from also expressing interest in another intense, action role: James Bond. Here’s hoping Holland does get the role, a tux winds up being a whole lot more protective than a henley.
You can catch Holland (and perhaps even Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire…) in Spider-Man: No Way Home on December 17. As of now, Uncharted is slated to premiere in theaters February 18, 2022.