Willem Dafoe may be 41 years older than Tom Holland, but the veteran actor is set to give as good as he gets when he makes his triumphant return to the world of Marvel blockbusters in next week’s Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Sam Raimi’s Green Goblin had been heavily rumored for an appearance in the multiversal epic from the second it was confirmed the narrative would hinge on villains descending from alternate realities, and Sony eventually decided to let the cat out of the bag in an official capacity when we heard some ominous intonation from Dafoe’s Norman Osborn in the second full-length trailer.
While we can expect plenty of CGI assistance when it comes to Spidey and Gobby battling it out in No Way Home, Holland revealed in a recent interview with Collider that after spending so long putting everything into an intense action sequence opposite his onscreen enemy, he and Dafoe both collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.
“I mean when I say there’s blood, sweat and tears, I’m not exaggerating. Making these films is incredibly tough and physical. Especially when you’re playing a character like Spider-Man. We all believe so much in these characters, and we give it 110%.
I know in my fight scene with the Goblin, I bust my hand up, my knuckles were all bloodied, and we were really going for it. We were putting everything into it. And I remember on the last day of shooting that fight scene when Jon said ‘cut!’ Willem and I just both collapsed to the floor. We were exhausted, and we had given him everything. I remember just chugging Red Bulls to like try and keep my energy going.”
It sounds as though everyone involved in Spider-Man: No Way Home has been putting themselves through the physical wringer regardless of their age, with Jamie Foxx the spring chicken among himself, Dafoe and Alfred Molina at a sprightly 53. Clearly, the elder statesmen of the franchise are still capable of keeping up with the younger generation when it comes to getting physical.