Horror movies might be everywhere you look from the top of the box office charts to the bottom of the VOD bargain bin, but the genre has never really tended to be the realm of big stars, for a couple of reasons. The first one is obviously financial, because most efforts are usually crafted on a relatively thrifty budget, which is why the vast majority of horrors to hit theaters tend to be in the black by the end of their first weekend regardless of where they wind up on the Top 10.
The second is arguably based on immersion, because audiences might not be able to invest in a concept in quite the same way if there’s an A-lister involved. Plenty of actors have become stars off the back of horror, but very rarely do we see hugely famous faces running for their lives and screaming bloody murder, with It: Chapter 2‘s star-studded ensemble one notable exception.
However, in a recent interview conducted by Get Out‘s Daniel Kaluuya, Tom Holland admitted that he’d love to appear in a scary movie one day, even if he doesn’t have the stomach for watching a lot of gory content.
“I’d like to do a horror film, but I’m so terrified of it. Get Out is one of the only horror films I’ve ever really seen, and I love that film, but I can’t tell you how much sleep you stole from me. We had a joke in my house, because, obviously, being English we drink loads of tea. And you’d be stirring the tea. ‘Why are you doing it like that? Are you trying to hypnotize me? What the hell?’.”
Kaluuya also reveals that he’s not the biggest fan of the genre, either, which is ironic when he landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor after headlining Jordan Peele’s critical and commercial smash hit. Holland is clearly looking to diversify his output, though, having won rave reviews for his turn in Netflix’s The Devil All the Time, while his upcoming performance in the Russo brothers’ Cherry has already been pegged as a potential awards season contender, so horror could be the next logical step as he continues to prove there’s a lot more in his arsenal than simply being Spider-Man.
