Jon Bernthal recently revisited a moment from early in his Marvel journey, recalling how he and Tom Holland assisted each other with audition tapes while filming the 2017 historical drama Pilgrimage. Bernthal auditioned for Frank Castle while Holland was preparing his take on Peter Parker.
“We did a film about seven or eight years ago,” Bernthal said during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “That was where both Tom did his audition for Spider-Man and I did my audition for Punisher. We actually made each other’s audition tapes on that film.”
Bernthal said Holland, then a teenager, approached the process with confidence. “He had such focus and such belief, it was so beautiful,” he said. “He would say, ‘I’m Spider-Man,’ I mean, he really believed he was going to get it.”
He remembered trying to manage Holland’s expectations while still encouraging him. “I was like, ‘There’s probably a lot of people that want to be Spider-Man. I mean, you’re super talented and all, but the odds are kind of against you, but yeah, let’s make the tape.’”
Bernthal suggested that Holland include a physical element. “I gave him the note, ‘Tom, maybe you should run up that wall and do a double backflip and then start the scene.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, you think I should do that? That’s not too much?’” Bernthal said Holland followed through with the idea. “It’s not that I take responsibility for him, but you know, like a little something.”
Holland made his first appearance as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War (2016), continuing with Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home, and other Marvel productions. He is scheduled to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Bernthal debuted as Frank Castle in Season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil before leading his own spin-off, The Punisher, which ran for two seasons. He recently returned to the role in Daredevil: Born Again, appearing in the Disney+ series’ first season finale.
Bernthal and Holland are set to appear together in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming feature The Odyssey, marking their first shared screen time since Pilgrimage. The film’s ensemble includes Matt Damon, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, and Elliot Page.
