To build up even more hype around the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, which dropped Nov. 16, a fan event in Los Angeles and New Mexico was held, with a surprise guest appearance by Peter Parker himself, Tom Holland. Along with reflecting on his time as everyone's favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, he teased plenty ahead for fans to look forward to in the upcoming Spidey film. He confirmed what many fans assumed: Willem Dafoe will return as Green Goblin, and Alfred Molina will reprise his role as Doc Ock.
Holland confirmed that the voice in the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer is Willem Dafoe. "When I met Willem for the first time, at that time, all of the villains in the film, it was a huge secret that they're in the film," Holland shared. "They would walk around set with these cloaks on... I bumped into this guy in a cloak, and I was like, 'Watch out mate.' He took his hood off, and I almost got really scared. I was like, 'Oh shit! Goblin is here.' He was really wonderful."
Dafoe's Green Goblin is iconic, to say the least, is the first major villain in a live-action Spider-Man film. As Holland remembers, their first rehearsal was remarkable but shied away from revealing much more. "The first rehearsal I had with [Willem] was pretty surreal," Holland said. "It was pretty incredible, and he's a wonderful guy, and he put me to shame. You should see how good at yoga he is. I'm supposed to be Spider-Man, supposed to be really flexible and all this sort of stuff. We would do scenes, and the next morning, I could hardly get out of bed. This guy sprung out of bed, not that we were sleeping in the same bed, but he was amazing."
Along with discussing his time working with Dafoe, Holland gave insight into his time working with Alfred Molina. His Doc Ock is as iconic as Dafoe's Green Goblin for many. With the confirmation of his return coming out much earlier than some of the other villains set to return to this film, there's been plenty of buzz around what Doc Ock's Marvel Cinematic Universe debut entails. While again avoiding spoilers, Holland explained why Molina's Ock was his favorite villain.
"Working with him on this Spider-Man: No Way Home was so fun because he was blown away by the improvement with all the technological advancements filmmaking has made," Holland shared. "Back in the day, I think it was [2004], when he made his Spider-Man movie, the arms that he used to have were puppeteered by four different people. Nowadays we don't do that anymore, because it's very time consuming, so it's all done with CG. Watching him be very free as Doc Ock was really rewarding because back in the day if you wanted to go over here, he'd have to tell four different people, 'Guys, I'm gonna step over here, and then you follow me, and then you get this one to do that.' To see him have the freedom to bring Doc Ock back to life in a new way was amazing."
It will be interesting to see how new technology has improved Doc Ock, as his performance in the 2004 film was already beloved by so many. It was also the technology in the film that lead to some fond memories between Holland and Molina.
"[Alfred] is one of the greatest people I've ever worked with," Holland continued. "He was on this thing called a toothpick rig, which is like a long crane. On one end is counterbalance weights and on the other end is the platform. [Alfred] would stand on that platform, and they would push him through the set. It would simulate the legs carrying him. What was funny is he didn't have control over where he went, so we'd be fighting each other. I'd be webbing him: he'd hit me with his arms. It looks ridiculous on the day; it's not cool at all. He would go, 'Tom how was your weekend? What you've been up to?" Then all of a sudden, he would take off, and he continued talking. 'I'm sorry, dear boy. I've got to go over here.' For me, working with [Alfred] was a real honor."
Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters on Dec. 17.
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