There’s no such thing as small roles — especially when they’re in the biggest movie of the year.
But Naomi Watts has what we’ll call a little-known performance in Destin Daniel Cretton’s record-breaking box office smash “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” and she celebrated the Sony Pictures and Marvel film’s opening weekend success by toasting her long-standing relationship with star Tom Holland.
As the voice of Spider-Man’s AI assistant E.V.I.E. (E.V.) in the movie, Watt’s offscreen performance in “Brand New Day” marked a reunion with Holland after the two worked together on Holland’s breakout screen role “The Impossible” in 2012.
“From playing your mom to playing your AI (100% human made),” Watts wrote on Instagram Tuesday. “Congrats Tom, Destin, and the whole ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ team on the historic opening weekend!!
“Immensely proud to even just a tiny part of this incredible film!”
Read the post in full — which includes a behind-the-scenes photo of Watts working with Cretton on the project — below.
At age 13 while filming, Holland’s “The Impossible” performance as a real-life teen caring for his injured mother (Watts) while waiting for rescue from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showcased him as a preternatural screen performer alongside Watts, who herself earned the J.A. Bayona film’s lone Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Off the success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” NBC’s “Today” recently reshared Holland’s 2013 interview with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford for “The Impossible,” his first televised interview in the U.S.
Asked to reflect how the big break might change his life, Holland said, “It already has completely changed my life. I mean, in ways that I’m flying to Los Angeles every two weeks to meet some of the most amazing people in the world. Obviously, there is the whole thing about being recognized on these street. I’ve never had that before. So that possibly will happen in the next couple of months. But I guess I’d just be polite really.”
Little did he know what was to come.
