‘The Devil All the Time’ Exclusive: Why Antonio Campos Cast Tom Holland to Lead His Netflix Film

Director Antonio Campos calls the "Spider-Man" actor "one of the greats of his generation."

Moviegoers who only know Tom Holland from his fan favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe role of Peter Parker in the “Spider-Man” and “Avengers” movies will be in for quite a shock with “The Devil All the Time,” the upcoming Backwoods Gothic drama from “Simon Killer” and “Christine” filmmaker Antonio Campos. “Devil” casts Holland as Arvin Russell, a local in the remote town of Knockemstiff, Ohio, who is surrounded by a host of sinister and corrupt characters played by the likes of Robert Pattinson, Riley Keough, Haley Bennett, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska, and Sebastian Stan. Go behind the scenes of Holland’s performance in the exclusive featurette below.

“In the hands of a lesser actor, Arvin would have just been an impenetrable, potentially alienating character who did a lot of awful things,” Campos said in an exclusive statement about casting Holland in his new feature. “The key to him was understanding his trauma and communicating the humanity in him. Beyond adapting his voice and his physicality, Tom was able to take on and carry the trauma Arvin had lived but was still able to communicate the warmth and humanity that made Arvin an accessible character we could actually connect with and root for.”

Campos added, “For an actor of his age to be able to capture this kind of complexity effortlessly is rare. He is one of the best I’ve worked with and truly one of the greats of his generation.”

In the featurette, Holland explains that nailing Arvin’s accent was one of the most important early steps that had to be achieved when crafting the character. The actor is aware most fans associate him with Peter Parker and the lively American accent that comes along with playing the superhero, which is why Arvin’s Southern drawl was important to perfect as it’s like nothing moviegoers have ever heard from Holland before. While the actor has landed several voice roles outside of the MCU (including this year’s “Onward” and “Dolittle”), “Devil” marks Holland’s first non-MCU live-action role since the 2017 festival debut of “The Current War.”

“The Devil All the Time” begins streaming on Netflix September 16. Watch IndieWire’s exclusive Tom Holland featurette in the video below.