Yesterday, Marvel and Sony made it official that Tom Holland would be the next actor to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man in a live-action Spidey film. Many people will be introduced to Holland as an actor when they see him in the drama In the Heart of the Sea this December.

The film stars Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and was directed by Ron Howard (Apollo 13). On Tuesday, Howard was a guest on BBC Radio and when asked about Marvel's next star-to-be he praised Holland's "great work ethic" and his ability to be "incredibly disciplined" without losing his "sense of fun."

"Tom's young, incredibly agile and fit. He's also very accessible and very relatable. He's one of us and has tremendous skills as an actor," Howard said when asked what kind of Spiderman Holland will be. "He'll bring humanity and heart and humor and energy to his version of Peter Parker."

One of Holland's greatest challenges with a high-profile superhero role like Spider-Man is that fans will scrutinize everything he does. Howard sees a positive comparison to another actor he worked with that became a superhero as well. "A friend of mine that I directed many times in comedies, Michael Keaton, suddenly found himself as Batman and people doubted if he would be a good Batman," Howard explained. "Fans were up in arms and so forth. The director of that series of Batman movies Tim Burton supported this idea and Keaton turned out to be stunning, and many people’s favorite of all-time. Tom will face some of that, but his feet are on the ground and has a good sense of how the film industry works as a business. He'll handle that pressure very well. And, he'll also give a very good performance. I'm confident of that. He's a great young talent and he also has the attitude to maximize all of his potential. I'm very excited for him."

Listen to Howard's comments in the audio clip below.

Jon Watts-directed solo Spider-Man movie to be released on July 28, 2017.

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