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Tom Holland says he and 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' costar Willem Dafoe 'collapsed to the floor' after filming an intense fight scene

Dec 21, 2021, 03:29 IST
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Tom Holland as Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."Sony Pictures
  • Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Spider-Man: No Way Home," now in theaters.
  • Tom Holland's Spider-Man and Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin have brutal fights in the movie.
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Tom Holland said that he and "Spider-Man: No Way Home" costar Willem Dafoe were so committed to a fight scene in the film that they "collapsed."

"When I say there's a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, I'm not exaggerating," Holland said in a recent interview with Collider. "Making these films is incredibly tough and physical, especially when you're playing a character like Spider-Man."

"NWH," now in theaters, is the third film in Jon Watts' "Spider-Man" trilogy and marks Holland's sixth appearance as the teen web-slinger from Queens.

The movie picks up directly after the events of "Spider-Man: Far From Home," in which Quentin Beck/Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) framed Spider-Man and revealed his real identity to the world.

When Doctor Strange casts a spell in "NWH" to make the world forget that Peter is Spider-Man, it goes wrong.

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As a result, characters from the multiverse who know Spider-Man's identity show up in this universe. This includes Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (Dafoe), Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock (Alfred Molina), Dr. Curtis Connors/Lizard (Rhys Ifans), Max Dillon/Electro (Jamie Foxx), and Flint Marko/Sandman (Thomas Haden Church).

Green Goblin in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."Columbia Pictures

Peter decides to send the villains back to their home universes, but only after he finds cures for all of them.

However, Norman's power-hungry Goblin persona takes over, and is eager to conquer this universe. This leads him to battle Holland's Spider-Man twice in the movie.

"We all believe so much in these characters and we give it 110%," Holland told Collider of filming. "I know in my fight scene with the Goblin, I bust my hand up. My knuckles were bloodied and we were really going for it. We were putting everything into it."

"I remember on the last day of shooting that fight scene when Jon said cut, Willem and I both just collapsed to the floor because we were exhausted and we just had given him everything," the actor added. "I remember just chugging Red Bulls to try and keep my energy going."

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Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."Matt Kennedy/Sony/Marvel Studios

The first fight between the two characters takes place at Happy Hogan's (Jon Favreau) apartment after Peter's tingle alerts him that Norman's dark side has been at play while the real Norman is "on sabbatical," as the villain says.

Their brutal fight involves a lot of damage to the apartment building and culminates in Aunt May's untimely death.

The other one-on-one fight occurs near the end of the film, after the Spider-Men (played by Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield) devise a plan to lure the multiverse villains to the Statue of Liberty in the hopes of curing them all.

Peter, fueled by vengeance because Goblin is the reason Aunt May died, fights the villain on his own. When taunted by the villain, Peter tells Goblin that he wants to kill him. The result is a darker side of Peter being shown as he beats up Goblin.

At one point, Peter grabs Goblin's glider and readies himself to impale the foe, similar to the character's death in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man," but Maguire's Spidey stops him.

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Then, Garfield's character tosses Holland's web-slinger the cure for Goblin, and the real Norman returns.

Once Doctor Strange casts a new spell, all the multiverse visitors return to their homes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in "Spider-Man: No Way Home."Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures

Dafoe, who first portrayed the iconic villain in 2002's "Spider-Man" starring Maguire, recently said that he only reprised the role under the condition that he would be allowed to do the fights and stunts himself.

"It's really impossible to add any integrity or any fun to the character if you don't participate in these things because all that action stuff informs your relationship to the characters and the story, and also it makes you earn your right to play the character," the veteran actor said.

Holland previously gushed about working with Dafoe during an interview with ComicBookMovie.

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"Getting to fight against the Green Goblin and then secondly that Green Goblin getting to be Willem Dafoe was amazing," he said, explaining that there were "so many pinch-me moments" throughout the making of "NWH."

"He would say things he had said in the previous movies and everyone would get chills down the back of their spines. It was awesome," Holland added of Dafoe.

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