The bromance between Tom Holland, the young British star of “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and Filipino-American actor Jacob Batalon is both for reel and for real.
The deep bond between the two was on full display at the film’s red carpet Asian premiere, which was witnessed by close to a thousand fans Wednesday night at the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
Tom, 21, and Jacob, 20, clowned around and danced in tandem as they fielded questions from media.
Tom, who debuted his Peter-Parker-teenage-webslinger character in last year’s “Captain America: Civil War,” said they forged their close relationship while filming “Spider-Man: Homecoming” and improvising some of their scenes together.
In the film, Jacob plays Ned Leeds, Peter’s geeky best friend.
“We were given the freedom to just exchange lines for 20 minutes in some scenes and the production would be the one in charge of cutting it in the editing,” Tom told News5.
“There was even one scene where Jacob asked to fit the costume just because he was curious. It was not in the script but it was hilarious and they just added it to the movie,” he said.
Jacob, on the other hand, revealed that he is a full-blooded Filipino, although he grew up in Hawaii and doesn’t speak much of his parents’ native language.
“I understand Filipino like it’s English but I could only speak a little,” he said. “But what keeps me Filipino is the food. I grew up in a Filipino household. I love sinigang, I love adobo! I can’t even remember the others but I love the food.”
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” follows Peter Parker’s high school life and is said to be the closest to the character’s depiction in the Marvel comic books.
“If the other superheroes are reluctant with their superpower, Spider-Man was enjoying his. He was having the time of his life as a 15-year-old discovering what more he could do,” Tom explained.
In the film, the character is mentored by Iron Man, played of course by Robert Downey Jr.
Tom shared a funny story about his first meeting with Robert Downey Jr. when he was being cast for “Civil War.”
“I remember being so nervous about meeting him and during our screen test. He first had a stand-in that looked so much like him that I introduced myself, and then he stepped in! We had so much fun with our lines and scenes,” he said.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” opens July 6 in theaters across the Philippines.
