Tom Holland’s Audition Tape Was a Punisher-ing Experience
Jon Bernthal, who’s showing as The Punisher on the large display for the primary time in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, performed a key position in Holland’s journey.
The Odyssey co-stars have been making the 2017 movie Pilgrimage and “that was where both Tom did his audition for Spider-Man and I did my audition for [Netflix’s] Punisher,” Bernthal said on Jimmy Kimmel Live in April 2025. “We actually made each other’s audition tapes on that film.”
Holland was super-confident, Bernthal famous, so he admittedly tried to mood the teenager’s expectations.
“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 recalled. But, not wanting Holland to get misplaced within the shuffle, both, “I gave him the notice, ‘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 an excessive amount of?’”
Bernthal quipped, “It’s not that I take accountability for him [getting cast], however you recognize, like a bit one thing.”
