Imagine a scene in the Marvel Cinematic Universe which puts Tom Holland’s Spider-Man and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher side-by-side. We may never see it, yes, but it’s cool to discover that the two actors auditioned for their roles as Peter Parker and Frank Castle together.
One day, perhaps years from now, the casting tapes will be released after picking up dust, buried deep within the archives in one of Disney’s many, many buildings. For now though we only have the vision of what that may have been like. Oh to be a fly on the wall!
In a recent interview with New York Daily News (via Squareeyed), Bernthal revealed that he and Holland helped each other out while auditioning for their Marvel roles during their Pilgrimage shoot in Ireland. Here’s what the actor said:
“We were making tapes from Ireland in the process of getting him cast in Spider-Manand then he and I made a tape for The Punisher. During this independent movie that we did in Ireland we were constantly making tapes for Marvel — just acting together. These tapes definitely do exist, you can call Marvel and ask for it, but that’s like breaking into Fort Knox.”
Will these tapes ever see the light of day? Who knows, probably not — but at least we know they spent some time together. Jon Bernthal debuts as The Punisher in season two of Daredevil, which is released on March 18 while Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, which bows on May 6.
In related news, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn has seen Holland’s work as Spidey and has said he’s made the role his own: “I think Tom Holland is the best Spidey/Peter Parkerever by a country mile. It’s his own thing. He is to Spidey as (Robert) Downey (Jr.) is to Iron Man, (Heath) Ledger was to the Joker, (Chris) Pratt is to Star-Lord.”
Comparing him to Heath Ledger’s Joker or even Downey Jnr as Tony Stark is a pretty big statement… we’ll have to wait another few weeks to see how good he is in the part.
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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