Tom Holland recently took a major step out of the shadow of the MCU with a lead role in Netflix’s recently released movie The Devil All the Time. In an interview, Holland revealed he did not know that his new film had a crucial connection with Spider-Man: Far From Home, in the shape of Mysterio actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
“Funny story. When Jake and I were working together on Spidey 2, he was asking me what I was going to do next. I pitched him this movie and he was like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m producing that movie.’ And I was like, Well, I’m in that movie.’ I guess someone had like messed up in the email and didn’t tell us that each of us were part of the film.”
Apart from Tom Holland and Jake Gyllenhaal representing the comic book movie world, The Devil All the Time also features Winter Soldier actor Sebastian Stan and future Batman Robert Pattinson in prominent roles. Director Antonio Campos clearly pulled out all the stops while casting for his movie. According to Holland, he was already a fan of Campos’ work before he ever got the script for The Devil All the Time.
“I met Antonio probably about two years before we started production. We went for a coffee, and I’d seen his film Christine and I was a massive fan of that, and I remember just saying to my agent, ‘When this guy is going into production on something I’d love to get a look at the script, and if there’s a role for me, I’d love to get an audition.'”
Set in the south in the decades after the Second World War, The Devil All the Time sees Tom Holland in the role of Arvin Russell, a withdrawn young man with a strong moral center. Growing up in a life of violence and neglect, Russell is forced to take a violent stand against the people in his town who prey on himself and his stepsister. The film is a bleak portrait of small-town America. According to Holland, playing Arvin in such a project helmed by a director he admired was an opportunity he could not say no to.
“[Arvin] is an angry kid. As an actor, I’m always looking for things to challenge me. I’m always looking for characters that are different and diverse and unique. I’m also looking for a director who I think can put me in a position I haven’t been in before. So, I guess for me it was the challenge of doing a different accent, playing the rural class kid, a period film, a new director. Everything ticked the boxes for me.”
Featuring a star-studded lead cast consisting of Tom Holland, Bill Skarsg&ård, Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Robert Pattinson, Eliza Scanlen, Sebastian Stan, Harry Melling, Haley Bennett, and Mia Wasikowska, The Devil All the Time is streaming on /tag/netflix Netflix as well as some select theaters. This story originated at Entertainment Weekly.