Tom Holland is not taking 2026 easy. Fresh from the success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and ahead of the release of his next major Marvel outing, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the actor is gearing up for what he says will be the biggest challenge of his career. After turning Telemachus and Peter Parker respectively, Holland has already moved on to play legendary entertainer Fred Astaire in an upcoming biopic. Infact the 30-year-old has started rehearsing for the film based on the life of the debonair dancer, which was first announced five years ago.
During an appearance on Good Morning America, he said, “I’ve got so much work to do to try and do Fred proud.” He further added, “It’s going to be a lot more than just acting, as Holland plans to do all the dance sequences himself.”
Tom Holland plays Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey
Return to the dance studio
His first rehearsals left him excited, but he is also aware of the huge amount of work ahead. Holland said he has already begun rehearsals for the long-anticipated Fred Astaire project during promotional appearances for “As soon as I finish with these tours, I’m diving back into the dance studio,” he said.
Fred Astaire
No doubles for dance
Holland said he was intent on honouring Astaire’s legacy by recreating the legendary performer’s style as authentically as possible. That means no body doubles whatsoever.
The actor went on to say he intends to do every dance number himself and plans to shoot many of the routines in long takes, in the manner that Astaire famously preferred his dance sequences to be shot. Authenticity is a big part of playing one of cinema’s greatest dancers for Holland, who prefers “no doubles, to do all of the dancing [myself], to shoot those dances in one shot — how he would have done it.”
Tom Holland returns as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Back to the roots
made his name first on the West End stage in Billy Elliot the Musical, long before he became Spider-Man, and dance was a big part of his performance. One of the actor’s biggest regrets, he said, was that he didn’t dance after he left the production. He views the Fred Astaire film as a way to return to that part of his career.
The project has even brought him back to the same central London dance studio where he trained for Billy Elliot. While he hopes to take on more challenging and mature roles in the future, the Fred Astaire biopic was just the challenge he had been looking for, he said. “I did my first dance rehearsal the other day for Fred, and I was really excited afterwards, but I was equally terrified because I have so much work to do,” Holland shared.