“Spider-Man” and “Cherry” Star Tom Holland for Esquire Magazine

In the new March issue of Esquire magazine, cover star and king of cool Tom Holland reveals his dark side. Writer Allie Jones finds out in her story “Mister Holland’s Opus” whether the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man can convince movie audiences he’s a heroin-addicted bank robber. (To his mum’s horror, the answer is yes.)

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On the plot of the next Spider-Man film: “I honestly have no idea what this film is about and I’m eight weeks into shooting it.”

On why his hair may be mysteriously shorter in a few scenes in the next Spider-Man film: “My hair in Uncharted [an adaptation of the video-game franchise costarring Mark Wahlberg] is much cooler. I have cool shaved sides and it’s slick at the back, and that’s not very Peter Parker. He’s a bit of a loser. So they put this wig on me that was just around the sides. For the first time in my life, I put my foot down as the leading actor and was like, ‘I’m not fucking wearing that wig. You can just…I’m going to have shorter hair and you’re going to have to deal with it.’”

On why he performed Rihanna’s “Umbrella” in drag on Lip Sync Battle, which has been viewed more than 68 million times on YouTube: “I just knew that at that point in my life, no one really knew who I was. And I was doing this show with Zendaya, who is obviously incredibly famous, and I was really nervous about being this random guy who everyone was like, ‘Who is this person? Why are you on the stage?’ So I just thought to myself like, I’m going to have to just do something incredibly bold, and if they watch it and don’t know who I am, they’ll still be entertained by it. So naturally, I decided to dance in the rain in fishnet tights.”

On why he decided to do Cherry: “I saw it as an opportunity to take being a role model to a new level and show young kids that this is going on, and this is a problem that is on our doorstep and something that can happen to anyone at any given moment from one bad decision. So I hope that people will see this film and go, ‘Do you know what? I’m not going to do drugs.’”

On sharing footage of himself as the drug-addicted bank robber in Cherry with his mother: “Biggest mistake ever. I was like, ‘This is how my day’s going,’ and she was furious with me. I guess I wasn’t thinking right, and I was like, ‘Do you know who would really like to see this? My mum.’ In hindsight, it was a really stupid thing to have done. I think when my mum goes to see my films in particular, the things she likes the most are the moments she goes, ‘Oh, that’s my little boy.’ But in this film there’s nothing like that.”

The March issue will be available digitally and at retail outlets by February 16.

[Photo Credit: Robbie Fimmano for Esquire Magazine]

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