The CEO Marvel called the actor when he was already a few drinks deep.
When it was announced that the Spider-Man franchise would be parting ways with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in August, many fans and industry folk alike were devastated. Despite Sony, who owns the rights to Spider-Man, guaranteeing in September that the decision was essentially set in stone, the company came to an agreement with Marvel that Spidey could remain in the MCU. We already knew that Tom Holland, who has played the beloved superhero character in all the MCU films that Spidey is apart (Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home), played a crucial role in getting Spider-Man back in the MCU. However, it looks like the details just how he managed to sway Bob Iger, CEO Disney & Marvel among other massive companies, involve a little more booze than we initially realized (9:42).
In a clip from Jimmy Kimmel Live! posted on Wednesday, Tom tells the story how he was involved in a drunken phone call with Bob in which they discussed the future the Spider-Man character. After Tom emailed Bob to tell him “Thank you for changing my life in the best way, and I hope that we can work together in the future,” Bob asked Tom when he was free to chat over the phone. Tom said “whenever,” and Bob proceeded to call him a few days later while he was already “three pints in” at a pub tri night. “I get a phone call from an unknown number,” he explains to Jimmy, “and I have a feeling like, I think this is Bob Iger…but I’m drunk.” Regardless, he answered, and Tom shares that he got “really emotional,” even weeping, because he felt like “it was all coming to an end.” Well, jokes on you, drunk Tom from the past: it wasn’t! At some point during the call, Bob told Tom that there was “a world in where we could make this work.” The phone call lead to more phone calls and ultimately, the negotiation was made. Jimmy says to Tom at the end the interview, “I’m really glad you got drunk and got on the phone with Bob Iger.” Same, Jimmy. Same.