Last week I was trending on twitter for having the gall to pen a book called, Eclipsed – a caustic tale, full of angst and invective about my lack of success and my envy at the unbridled fame of my eldest son, Tom.
Insulting tweets were retweeted over 10,000 times and whilst it wasn’t nice reading, it was ameliorated by the spike in book sales as I have reported here already.
And now I see that Tom is included in yet another twitter ‘storm’ – (always a storm with twitter) – with the news that Spider-Man/Sony/Marvel love-in has ended.
Predictably, speculation is rife. Boycotts are being called for. Heads must roll. Heads will roll. #saveSpider-Man – and when Super-heroes need saving, then we truly are in trouble.
At this breaking news, my phone starts to ring. Radio stations are keen to have me appear on their programmes, eager for me to speculate and add to the fervour. Naturally, I decline. No comment is what I want to say but I don’t for fear of appearing rude and above my station.
Cheekily, I suggest that I will appear on their radio show/s, however, but in my capacity as a comedian (and not a dad) and one with a newly released novel, I, Gabriel…
This elicits an awkward pause and then their turn to decline. Payback perhaps? And so I am back to my blog – less reach, but always there for me!
To conclude, I know nothing about the impasse between Sony and Marvel. I have no inside track on such issues. But whatever is decided by the big suits at these big Hollywood studios – my hunch is that the show will continue. Too much at stake and too many dollars riding on it – and besides, everyone wants the same thing; namely, Spider-Man on large screens keeping people safe and entertained.
And with Tom in the suit, for the time-being at least. And in the years ahead, no doubt, with another lucky young actor in the role – and God forbid, his dad isn’t an “angry, failed, washed-up comedian” because he might have an idea to pen a book on father and son – and I’m with the twitter mob on this – that we have quite enough such God-awful books already.
Eclipsed by your friendly, neighbourhood father of Tom Holland
and I,Gabriel – by the same dad
Both out now and available via this site and on kindle and paperback.
I agree I think once they realise the strength of public opinion they’ll sort themselves out I do feel for tom being stuck in the middle of the two companies having what amounts to a temper tantrum
Pretty much what I’ve heard about the Sony thing, is that Sony wanted to make a deal with Disney and split the income 50/50, but Disney declined, wanting all the money, so I don’t know what’s going to happen. I heard that Spider-Man would still happen but not in marvel.
No you’ve got it all twisted, Disney had a deal with Sony where they were able to bring Spiderman into their own movies, but Sony was to take 95% of the gross from the related Spiderman solo pictures and Disney only 5%. Disney tried to renegotiate to split the production costs and proceeds 50/50 moving forward and Sony refused and offered no counter offers. They just want to keep the old arrangement, which is plainly not fair to Disney if you really look into it.
I haven’t got anything twisted because I don’t know anything – as I explained in the post – what I do know is what I said – that S-M will live on – with Tom for now and with other actors going forward.
The press reactions that I am joining a side are nothing more than click bait – people feeding off meagre pickings.
Hey Dom! I don’t believe Jacob was referencing you. I think he was replying to Emily from the above comment. I, myself agree with Jacob, however, I also fully agree with you in that Spider-Man will live on. I just hope that your son will be given the opportunity to continue down the path that the Kevin Fiege and the MCU has laid out, as his adaptation of the hero is in my opinion the best on-screen version of Spider-Man there has ever been. Fingers crossed!
speculation will continue and as night follows day, the story will unfurl…
I totally agree once they realise how everyone feels about it they’ll sort it I do feel sorry for tom being stuck in the middle of 2 companies having a tantrum
I’ll keep the Holland family in my prayers, that you can all weather this storm together.
I have read both books, Eclipsed and I,Gabriel (massive fan of the second one – well done!) and I still can’t believe how much hate you’ve received! And shame on reporters asking for your input. Keep on writing your weird, authentic material!
I haven’t had the chance to read Eclipsed, (I’m from Chile and I really hope to read it soon, though) and I think that you writing a book with that subject it’s amazing. I really can’t help to laugh with each of your posts so I can only assume the book is way better.
I’d like to add that the way you’ve reacted to those mean comments is awesome.
Hoping to see a soon update on your blog…
C.G.
I’ve had the honor of reading Eclipsed, and I found it so hilarious and heartwarming. I honestly don’t get why you have received that kind of reception on Twitter. Eclipsed was so awesome!
You are really funny and I enjoy every single one of your posts.
Please, keep on writing, you are great at it ! 🙂
I always appreciate your level headedness. Always. It is a breath of fresh air in our reactionary and media frenzied world.
It‘s so nice of you to release such a respond. I’m a Chinese fan of Tom, who sincerely long for reading your books! But it seems that I couldn’t get them from Amazon.uk. Would you consider selling them on any other platform that we could buy them in China please? Wish you a good day.
Your family’s fan base has a really strong backing. Even if the dispute between Sony and Disney continues, you can bet the fans will have enough to say for all of you! On the topic of your books, I just downloaded “I, Gabriel” and “Only in America.” I am looking forward to reading those in the midst of penning my own novel! Always keep writing. I can’t wait to read more of your work.
Congratz for the spike in book sales, Dom. Though I’m not happy about the insulting tweets. Please note that they’re not Tom’s fans because we can’t help but fall in love with your family. Best of luck for your books and I hope you you will also attend Omega event next week.
Perfectly said. At the end of the day Spiderman will come and go, as will rude comments and opinions. Tom’s career (and your own I must add) were going quite swimmingly before it and they’ll be just fine after, whether that’s in a year or ten. Best to just accept all press as good press and leave the big wigs to fight it out. As always, a fab post Dom
Dom, Of course the media want to get you to embroil in an angry debate . You know this would have been inappropriate. Well done Mr H on making the right decision. You are the best dad!
I read Eclipsed while as an inpatient in Hospital. To say I was in a bad mood was an understatement. The book totally changed that around. It was hilarious, well written, insightful and reminded me a bit of my Dad. Anyone who thinks that there is any sort of animosity or jealousy is obviously ludicrous. If anything I found an element of pride running through the book; not only for all of your children’s public successes but also, as who they were as people. Your blog is brilliant. I have just bought I,Gabriel to be read at my next hospital visit. Please keep writing – it is such a joy.
Hello Andrea, this is heartening and good to read, thank you and whatever it is that puts you in hospital, I hope that it abates. Thank goodness for the clever kids at school who decide to put their abilities to good use. I was hopeless at school and comedy was practically the only career open to me and even this has not been plain sailing as an Eclipsed reader, you can attest.
Thank you. Laughter is good medicine.
In all honesty, escapism is something I often look for at the moment, rarely find, especially without the use of technology and something I certainly found in your book. I read it in one sitting!
You don’t often (or ever really) get to tell an author this, so I thought I would take the opportunity, especially after what I read online.
It is such a shame it has come to this , Tom Holland is one of my favourite actors and the best Spider-Man yet , Spider-Man is my favourite marvel character, just to let you know Dominic Holland I read your eclipse book and I thought it was a great book I couldn’t put it down, it was so funny and moving at the same time and it shows you are proud of your son and I’m sure Tom is very proud to have you as his Father , with all this rage on social media and the internet is pretty sure that marvel and Sony would have to come to some sort of an agreement, hope you and the rest of the family are well x
“An awkward pause and then their turn to decline” They’ve clearly never seen your stand-up(free fringe) or the brutal comments ripping your kids on instagram!
Your response to the reporters etc was spot on, hope this situation hasn’t caused un-needed stress for you all.
That’s what I told my daughter when she brought the Sony/Marvel issue to my attention yesterday – that it’s about the money, which revolves around the fans, so Spiderman probably isn’t going anywhere.
I suspect that some of the fans’ distress comes from the possibility that even if Spiderman gets another movie, it’ll be detached from the rest of the MCU characters, which have become basically a big family in all its dysfunctional beauty. And who doesn’t love watching dysfunctional families work things through?
Tom is an absolutely brilliant actor and perfect Spiderman (my personal favorite superhero since I was a little kid), so I’ll happily pay to see anything he’s in. I’ll be honest, though – I’m gonna be kind of sad if his Spidey gets detached from the rest of the MCU characters. Loved seeing other characters show up in each other’s stand-alone movies (Dr. Strange & Hulk in Ragnarok, Tony in Homecoming, etc.), and would love to see the dynamics of Spiderman paired up with just about any of the other characters, either in his movie or theirs.
So my first thought wasn’t that there’ll no more Tom Holland as Spiderman, because I really hope they’re not dumb enough to go that far, but rather that Spiderman’s been cast out of the sandbox and is on his own from here on out.
My thoughts are why would you take spider-man out of the MCU? It was doing great in theaters and make tons everyone that I know wanted to go back and see it again because it was so good, especially me. I want to save our friendly neighborhood spider-man he has been the best spider-man yet.
Firstly, I think too many people misintepret the humour in Eclipsed, quite unfortunatly in fact. Secondly, I hope that the spiderman issue resolved itself, Stan Lee himself basically knighted Tom worthy of the role and I would hate for him to have to give up the dream. I’m sure an agreement will be made, especially with the “storm” raging
I think you are right, Mr Holland. I can only hope Sony has the good sense to keep young Tom as Spiderman. Having lived through all 3 actors portraying him on screen, I can say, unequivocally, that the young Holland is the most brilliant in the role. I liked them all, he’s just done the whole character the best. Cheers and good luck to you and the rest of the Hollands. Hope you’ll be doing a show when I arrive in London for my anniversary next Summer/Autumn.
Tom is the best SpiderMan (Obviously over 30’s will say Tobey was the best) and his inclusion in the MCU was amazing. For that to end is disheartening. Sony/Disney deal in 2015 was historic so hopefully they can work out a deal with each side compromising that has good terms for all involved.
The reality is, we are in unknown territory here. The deal was unprecedented but with such a massive backlash largely towards Sony, I doubt any future studios would be willing to do the same deal for fear of hurting their brand so in actuality, the backlash may do more harm than good.
All I see when I read about you and your family, is an incredibly proud Dad with immense love for his wife and sons, who has done a fantastic job at raising his kids and keeping them kind and firmly grounded. Its terrible that some people out there just cant be happy for others.