Naomi Watts celebrated Spider-Man: Brand New Day's opening weekend by sharing a behind-the-scenes photo and a message connecting her newest role to one of the earliest chapters in Tom Holland's career.
Watts voiced E.V.I.E., Spider-Man's AI assistant, in the Destin Daniel Cretton-directed film. The performance was entirely off-screen, but it marked a reunion with Holland that traced back more than a decade. The two first worked together on The Impossible in 2012, when Holland was 13 years old and Watts played his on-screen mother during the harrowing events of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Watts received the film's only Academy Award nomination for her performance, a Best Actress nod.
According to The Wrap, Watts posted her reaction to the film's opening weekend on Instagram Tuesday. "From playing your mom to playing your AI (100% human made)," Watts wrote. "Congrats Tom, Destin, and the whole 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' team on the historic opening weekend!!" She added: "Immensely proud to even just a tiny part of this incredible film!"
The film has become a box office success. Its opening displaced The Odyssey from the top spot at the domestic box office, with The Hollywood Reporter noting that Christopher Nolan's film relinquished first place to Sony's superhero sequel, which is now sharing a portion of IMAX screens with Nolan's movie.
The success of Brand New Day also prompted NBC's Today to resurface Holland's first televised American interview, a 2013 appearance with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford promoting The Impossible. Holland was asked at the time to reflect on how the breakout role might change his life.
"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," Holland said at the time.
Holland's role in The Impossible came years before he was cast as Peter Parker, a part that has since made him one of the most recognizable actors in the world. Brand New Day represents his continued run in that franchise under director Cretton.
Watts' Instagram post included a photo of herself working with Cretton on the project, offering a glimpse at the recording process behind E.V.I.E.'s voice performance.
