TOM
I HAVE HAD an eventful few days to say the least.
Friday I had possibly the worst interview of my life to date, whereas Friday night was an uncomfortable and awkward wrap party where I surprisingly spent more time with the crew than the cast.
Saturday morning rolled around and I woke up in a colleagues bed, spent half the day with her eating greasy breakfast and talking about our lives. Which was refreshing until I went out drinking again that night with the boys.
Sunday I spent packing my multiple suitcases with another hangover and now I'm about to disembark on the second flight I've been on in almost twenty four hours.
From Los Angeles we flew to Heathrow, I said goodbye to Haz, Harry and Tuwaine who headed back home and I jumped on a connecting flight to Casablanca airport, ready to film the next movie which starts in Morocco; Marrakech to be exact.
I will be completely honest with you. Spider-Man was the trilogy of movies that launched my career and skyrocketed me to fame. I grew up learning so much about the industry alongside the cast and crew and it really did help shape me into the man I am today.
This trilogy however, is like a fucking dream come true. I think every British man grew up wanting to play James Bond and somehow, by some sheer fucking miracle, I'm playing the seventh version of him.
Me.
Playing James Bond.
One of the biggest grossing franchises of all time.
James Bond is a legend, an icon, a sex symbol. The movies get critical acclaim and the soundtracks alone attract some of the biggest stars. Fucking Adele herself wrote Skyfall for one of them. Bond is epitomised as the ultimate hero and nevertheless has the most drop dead gorgeous cars, gadgets and women all around him. They even got their own social stigma, being a 'bond girl'.
For this particular movie, my female counterpart is Anya Taylor-Joy who I personally haven't worked with before and have briefly met about twice. It will also star Alexander Skarsgard as the main antagonist alongside Daniel Kaluuya.
A stellar cast if I do say so myself.
I've been to Morocco for work before, when we were shooting the war scenes for Cherry. I liked it here, the people were really nice, the food was good, I really enjoyed it.
So far I think I'm the only one from the principal cast who will be in Morocco apart from Alexander. The script seems like a lot of me travelling across the desert with local men guiding me to some sort of destination where I find the first clue to the villain being Alexander. I think.
I don't ever get given full scripts from start to finish anymore, especially since my Marvel days. I can usually end up piecing the plot lines together at the end of production but during the filming process, I'm pretty lost.
The cool thing about being in a vast place like Marrakech is that my management are on the other side of the world, majority of my makeup team are on the other side of the world and I can kind of just focus on work and nothing else.
When we filmed Cherry, I don't think any photos of me got leaked because there simply weren't any paparazzi around. We literally camped in tents in the desert. Admittedly, they were very nice, luxurious tents.
This time around the entire cast and crew are staying on location in this nice huge private villa. When I say 'entire cast and crew' however, it really is just the top line crew and Alexander, probably like ten people. I think there are some local talent who will come each day to film but they won't sleep here.
It's weird, the fact we are sleeping inside the villa used in the movie. I guess only the outside of it will be shown. The car that picks me up is just a big back four wheel drive with tinted windows and blasting air-con.
Marrakech is fucking hot man.
Like, disgustingly hot.
When we fly back to the UK to film, I assume the cast and crew will grow exponentially to hundreds of people. Most of the time when only a few scenes are shot overseas, they only fly minimal people out.
"Mr. Holland, I have a local phone and new SIM card for you," my translator says, turning around from the passenger seat and handing me a little phone. I thank him, ask him for his name and then ask him to repeat it once more because I wanted to get the Arabic pronunciation correct.
"Let me get your bags," Shafiq says politely, getting out of the car once we had arrived and opening the back door for me. I was greeted by our director Todd Phillips in the foyer of the villa; a massive fucking mansion on the outskirts of the city.
He escorted me around, telling me how excited he was to film with me. I'd spent a lot of time with him during the audition process and of course I've seen his most famous films, Joker and The Hangover trilogy. Two very different styles but nevertheless incredible.
"Get settled in Tommy, we're just going to be setting stuff up for hours and hours. Dump your stuff in your room and kick back man. Oh and Alex is in the pool outside so just wander out and say hi whenever you can," he grinned, shaking my hand before walking outside.
The pool was huge, a long narrow rectangle stretching out towards the desert. The fucking desert. So sick.
I sat on the edge of the bed and checked my new phone for any emails or messages from my managers, friends and family. To no surprise, my manager had messaged me profusely and left a voicemail:
"Hey Tom, hope you had a safe flight and aren't too jet lagged when you get this. Quick little detour in your whole immigration debacle. I know your visa is all fine and good to go because you've left the United States but the photo Timothee posted and that you reshared the other night on Instagram has brought a few issues to light. Someone in the immigration office leaked the de facto application that said you had a girlfriend and now the internet is going wild... Call me when you get this."
"Hey stranger," Y/N said knocking on the wall and standing in my bedroom doorframe.
Normally I would've greeted her with a quick hug and raved about how awesome this villa is, asked her when she got here and asked her about herself generally, but this voicemail was all I could think about.
"What the fuck is this voicemail? Also, hey! This is so sick that you're here in Marrakech too! But sorry yeah, what on earth is happening around this leaked immigration thing?!" I said quickly, staring up at her.
"Ah yeah, you're going to want to call your management about that... They already called me with a bunch of lawyers on the line and said to make sure we all jump on a call when you arrived," she said looking down the hallway in case anyone was around before closing the door behind her.
"Is everything okay...?" I asked quietly.
"I think we're fucked."