In a recent episode of ‘Late Night with Seth Meyers,’ British actor Tom Hollander shared a hilarious anecdote about being mistaken for Tom Holland, which led to an unexpected financial mix-up when Hollander accidentally received Holland’s paycheck for ‘The Avengers.’
According to the actor, this accident occurred due to both actors being represented by the same agency at that time:
“People in the accounts department of my agency got confused, and we were with the same agency — briefly. [ Laughter ] And, uh… And it was a terrible moment.”
Hollander then described the moment he discovered the mistake. According to the actor, this happened while he was attending a friend’s performance in a Chekhov play:
“I went to see my friend who was doing theater in England for £300 a week, but doing great work, Chekhov. I sat smugly in the audience, having just done a BBC show for 30 grand or something, which was, you know, going to get me through the next year or so. And I was thinking, ‘Well, this is marvelous. I’m very prosperous, but my good friend Peter is doing this great play; I’m going to go afterward, see him, slightly patronize him, and say how wonderful it was.'”
However, when the interval came, he came across a huge surprise in his e-mails:
“Then the interval came, and I thought I’d check my e-mails. I got an e-mail from the agency saying, ‘Payment advice, your first box-office bonus for ‘The Avengers.” And I thought… [ Laughter ] … ‘I don’t think I’m in ‘The Avengers.” It was an astonishing amount of money, and it was not his salary. It was his first box-office bonus, not the whole box-office, the first one. And it was more money than I’ve ever — It was a seven-figure sum.”
As Hollander recalls, he felt a little bit down as Holland was so young at that time:
“He was 20 or something. So my feeling of smugness that you remember I had in the first half disappeared very quickly. But that’s showbiz. It’s up, it’s down, it’s hero, it’s zero.”
Hollander humorously noted that he is often mistaken for Holland in non-visual contexts, and this even leads to young fans expecting to see Spider-Man.
You can watch the conversation below.
This Wasn’t the First Time They Were Mistaken
According to public confusion dating back to 2015, when Tom Holland was cast as Spider-Man, some Twitter users initially mistook him for Hollander. Although there were users who were content with Hollander’s casting, others believed he was ‘a little bit too old’ to play the character.
In a previous interview with TodayOnline in 2020, Hollander was again asked if he was often mistaken for Holland. He revealed that this confusion happens frequently around young kids who expect to see Spider-Man when they hear his name. The actor then jokingly resembled their disappointment to children realizing ‘Father Christmas isn’t real.’
As of now, Holland has no upcoming projects on the horizon, except for the new Spider-Man sequel. Hollander, on the other hand, has two — ‘Me, You‘ and ‘Feud.‘
