The casting of Tom Holland as legendary actor, dancer, and singer Fred Astaire in an upcoming biopic for Sony has drawn mixed reactions on social media.
The "Spider-Man" star confirmed the news on Sunday at a London event, explaining that he had received the script several days ago and although he had not read it yet, he had connected with Oscar-nominated producer Amy Pascal.
"She FaceTimed me earlier. I was in the bath," Holland told reporters, according to Variety. "And we had a lovely FaceTime, but I will be playing Fred Astaire."
Not all fans of Astaire were thrilled about the casting.
One Twitter user noted that the decision was "bad, very bad" as Holland was "not a good actor."
Another Twitter user took issue with the fact that theater stars were not the first pick for the role and that instead the part went to a Hollywood A-lister.
"Why are they getting film stars to do this when this would be the perfect opportunity for countless West End and Broadway actors who could do the part so much better than actors like Holland!" the Twitter user wrote.
Others pointed out that the late Astaire’s wish was that he never be the subject of a biopic.
"Leave it to Sony to violate a dead man's wishes," a fan tweeted.
"Fred Astaire literally wrote in his will that he didn’t want a biopic about him!" another Twitter user wrote.
The casting may have garnered a strong reaction on social media but it still comes as little surprise considering the popularity of the "Spider-Man" franchise. Since appearing in the role, the films have been massively successful and it has now been confirmed that the actor will remain as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite rumors of his exit.
"We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel, it just isn't part of … we're thinking of this as three films, and now we're going to go onto the next three," said director Amy Pascal during an interview with Fandango. "This is not the last of our MCU movies," she added.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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