Actors turning down roles in movies that would go on to become huge commercial and critical successes is a very common occurrence in Hollywood.For example, Emma Watson turned down an Oscar-winning role in a musical that made more than $400 million at the box office just to play Belle in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast live-action remake. Other actors that have turned down big roles include Emma Stone and Tom Holland.
Landing the role of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe definitely helped increase Tom Holland’s net worth and future professional opportunities. But, had he not turned down the lead role in an Academy-nominated film that made over $300 million worldwide, he would have become an even bigger star.
Tom Holland’s Career Much More Than The Spider-Man Movies
Although he’s most well-known for giving life to Spider-Man in the latest movies of the MCU, Tom Holland has done so much more.
He’s been acting and dancing since a really young age. In 2006, he was spotted by choreographer Lynne Page, who invited him to audition for Billy Elliot the Musical. Holland landed the role of Michael Caffrey, the protagonist's best friend, and made his debut performance at the West End's Victoria Palace Theatre in 2008.
Following his incursion in musical theater, Holland would go on to voice a small role in the British dub of the Japanese animated film Arrietty (2011). A year later, he made his feature film debut when he starred in The Impossible (2012). The film made more than $180 million at the box office and Holland received plenty of critical praise for his performance.
From that point, Holland appeared in several movies and TV shows, but he didn’t gain international recognition until 2015 when he was cast to play Peter Parker, aka Spiderman.
Believe it or not, the producers weren’t sure whether to give Holland this role at first but, ultimately, decided to give it a try. This decision clearly paid off. Holland was highly praised for his debut performance in Captain America: Civil War (2016) and would then go on to star in three Spiderman movies.
Following the success of the latest Spider-Man trilogy, Holland gained recognition for playing darker roles in the dramas like The Devil All the Time (2020) and Cherry (2021). Additionally, the actor has directed a short film titled Tweet (2015) and has done some voice-acting for animated films like Onward (2020).
Tom Holland Once Had To Turn Down An Academy-Nominated Filmed That Made Millions At The Box Office
In 2019, Tom Holland was offered the lead role in 1917, a film that would go on to gain plenty of critical and commercial success.
Unfortunately, the Spiderman actor had to turn down this award-nominated role because of other professional commitments. At that time, Holland had to re-shoot some scenes for the movie Chaos Walking (2021).
Chaos Walking is a sci-fi action film directed by Doug Liman and written by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford. This action movie is based on Ness's science fiction trilogy of the same name. It stars well-known stars such as Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Lilyah Freshour, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and David Oyelowo.
Ironically, director Doug Liman has admitted that filming this movie was a total “chaos walking” mainly because it took years to complete the production due to constant reshoots and story changes. In addition to this, Chaos Waling was a complete commercial flop, despite its all-star cast.
The Movie Tom Holland Rejected Ended Up Being A Huge Commercial Success
Directed by Sam Mendes, 1917 (2019) follows two British soldiers, Will Schofield (George MacKay) and Tom Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), who are on a mission to deliver an important message to call off a doomed offensive attack. The movie premiered in 2019 in the United Kingdom and in 2020 in the rest of the world.
While Walking Chaos made a little over $26 million worldwide, 1917 grossed out more than $387 million at the box office across the world. In addition to this, the movie was nominated for ten awards at the 92nd Academy Awards, and winning threeof them. Surely, Tom Holland regrets not being a part of this project.