Last August, a group of fellow journalists and I visited the London set of Spider-Man: Far From Home. In the upcoming film, Peter (Tom Holland) is looking forward to taking a European vacation, but his plans are disrupted when Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) recruits him to fight rampaging monsters.

During a break in filming, we got to sit down and talk with star Tom Holland. Since the last time we had seen Spider-Man, he was being dusted in Avengers: Infinity War, we asked about the challenges of promoting this movie when we were all in the dark about his character’s fate. He also talked about Peter Parker’s relationship with Mysterio, working opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, how the film differs from Homecoming, Peter’s relationship with Aunt May now that she knows he’s Spider-Man, and much more.

Check out the interview below. Spider-Man: Far From Home opens July 2nd.

This film will be your fourth time as Spider-Man. How does it feel to have played Spider-Man more than anyone else when this film comes out?

TOM HOLLAND: It feels pretty good. It's an amazing experience as an actor, and such a privileged experience as an actor to get to play a character that you love so much time and time again. I definitely have the mindset of if you want to make 20 of these movies then I'm down, because it's really fun. So it's been a real privilege and been so much fun, maybe even more fun this time round than the last one, and it's been great.

How is it to go from doing the Avengers movies with that big and the big huge cast, to come back and do your own movie with your own supporting characters?

HOLLAND: That's a good question. The Avengers movies feel so removed from what we were doing in Homecoming, and far from home especially. Because obviously, our films are about people who are so grounded in reality, people who are very real, and then when you get into the world of the Avengers that's the complete opposite you know, we have characters from all over the galaxy mixing with each other and it's a very different feel on set because you have people who are blue and green, Iron Man and stuff. It's pretty crazy, but this is a bit more low-key and feels a bit ... I always describe these movies like the biggest indie movies ever made. Because it does just feel like we're making a high school movie that happens in Europe.

What's Peter Parker's head space like in this movie?

HOLLAND: Love. He's very much love-driven in this film, and taking a break. This film is all about him trying to take a break but the responsibility of being Spider-Man always taking over, which is quite funny because the first film we were really keen to show Peter Parker enjoying his powers, and really wanting to be Spider-Man, now we have Peter Parker who still loves the aspects of Spider-Man but just needs a break, just needs a holiday like everyone does at times. And that's not possible when you're a superhero and you have responsibilities to save lives, so it's an interesting balance of kind of watching a kid do his homework. That's kind of how I'm describing it.

The first film had kind of a John Hughes vibe to it, does that carry over to this movie or is it more of a spy thriller with bringing in Nick Fury and all those elements?

HOLLAND: This film's kind of like if Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spectre had baby. That's how I would describe this film. It has the sexy aspect of being in Europe, of having the spy mission undertone, but at the heart of it it's still a very similar film to Spider-Man: Homecoming, in a sense that it's really about Peter and his friends and the kids, and the light-hearted humor that they have and what happens when a group of Americans go to Europe, you know. It's a pretty amazing experience and yeah, so it's pretty similar but it just has a new undertone of super cool spy stuff.

How's it been with Jake Gyllenhaal, working with him, because it sounds like he really got into the role, he loved the costumes and stuff, how was he to film with?

HOLLAND: He's awesome and Jake and I got on really well and it's interesting because when you hear the word Mysterio as a Spider-Man fan you immediately think villain, and that's not the case in our film, he's sort of a new addition to this world of heroes, and sort of my teammate throughout the movie. And it's funny because Jake is such a great guy and we get on really well and it's been fun sort of fighting these crazy monsters with him because imagining stuff is quite difficult when you're doing it on your own, but when you're doing it with someone else it's a lot easier.

And also every year I have a phone call with my agents where I talk about the five actors I want to work with and the five directors I want to work with, and he's always on the list, so the fact I get to work with him on this is pretty special.

What is the dynamic between Peter and Mysterio? How do they kind of interact with each other, vibe with each other, compared to some of the heroes that he's already worked with?

HOLLAND: It's very much big brother, little brother. And Nick Fury's the headteacher who is constantly telling me off because I don't want to really be there, I want to go on holiday and Mysterio is always the one sort of sticking up for me and patting me on the back and telling me I did a good job. Which is funny, there's really funny moments in the film where I feel like I haven't done a good job, and Mysterio's like, "Good job, kid!" So yeah, it's fun, it's been a really cool ride so far.

What's his relationship like now that Aunt May knows his secret which, is a big difference from the comic where he was always trying to hide his other life from her, that was a huge reveal at the end of the last movie.

HOLLAND: Yeah, it's an interesting question, obviously bigger things in the MCU have happened that we need to talk about, so when we find May for the first time, she's kind of egging Peter on. There's a very funny line where she's talking about, "I hope you've taken down some crime family."

So she's in on it and she kind of understands his power, she understands that he's safe most of the time, you know. When he's being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man little harm can come to him, but when he takes on bigger foes, I think she is just as worried as she was in the first one.

How is it making this movie when there's this big lingering question, and just, how are you finding it now, and what are your concerns going into the next year promoting this movie with regards to that? And that's not trying to trick you.

HOLLAND: The reason I'm so strict on myself is because I know what everyone wants to know and it is so epic that I would be very upset with myself if I gave away some of the things that are to come. But for us, it's important to look at what's happened in the past with the MCU and make sure that they're still relevant and still present throughout the film, so lots of conversations have been had about throwing ideas back to what happens and stuff, and yeah, so it's still very much a present factor of this film, and it's something that will resonate with audiences massively.

How important was it to bring Jon Watts back and to collaborate with him again?

HOLLAND: I mean, he's ... no one understands this character and these films better than he does, you know. And for me, it's so much easier the second time round, especially because he's here, because we both know what you need to do, we've done it before. And in the first film, we were in the same boat because we hadn't done it before so we could stick together. In this film, we're in the same boat, we know how the industry works, so we can stick together and help each other in ways we never knew we could on the first one.

And it's just made the whole process a lot easier because I know, going into a scene, what Jon wants. So I don't need to wait for the first five takes for him to figure it out, I just know from doing it so often, and it's just made it a lot smoother process, where in the first film we'd do 20 takes, now we just do 10, because we are on the same page. And I thought the first film was so unique compared to other superhero movies in the sense of how young it was and how diverse the cast was and it was a no brainer that the second film needed more of that, so who better to bring back than the guy who did it in the first place? I was so happy to have Jon back.

Your character is so movie-savvy, does he go round, like saying like, "I'm in a James Bond movie," or any other kind of movie references like that?

HOLLAND: That's kind of a Russo thing, that joke, the movie references stuff. We don't really have that many...It's so funny, the two films I've referenced in that movie, the first one was Empire Strikes Back and the second one is Alien, and I haven't seen either of those movies.

You put on the new black stealth costume. What is that thing is capable of?

HOLLAND: It's awesome. It's not actually capable of much, it ... we sort of strip Spider-Man back, and it now is just him relying on his powers, but it is his ability to act as Spider-Man without the world knowing that Spider-Man is there. It's just an idea that he has to keep his identity from his friends. But it's awesome. It's really, really cool. I can go to the bathroom, which is huge bonus.

It looks super cool, and it was so funny, we were doing this scene, and my grandparents came to watch. And I've got the stealth suit on, and they're watching on the monitors and then I jump out the window of this building we're filming in, and they actually had a big pontoon, not pontoon, a big platform outside, that I could jump out the window and land on. And I was trying to convince the crew to, after I jump out the window, like everyone rush to the window and go, "No, wait, wait, wait!" And scare my grandparents, but they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't do it. They thought it was too mean.

What would you say is kind of Peter's main mission in this when he's in Spider-Man mode?

HOLLAND: At the end of the day it's always about saving people and doing the right thing. The world is at risk in this film, it's not, I feel like the Vulture was sort of low-level crime, it was sort of under the radar, not many people knew about it, but this is a worldwide event. So the stakes are much higher for him and I think he understands that, meaning he has to really show up and bring his 'A' game. But at the heart of the film, Peter Parker just wants to tell the girl he really likes that he loves her and have a nice holiday. But that all gets ruined; Nick Fury gets in the way.

And that relationship, obviously in the first movie it was only found out at the end that that's the MJ figure, so you had a very different working relationship with her in the first one, how's that changed? What's it like now?

HOLLAND: It's been great. It's been a really, really fun film. Zendaya, Jacob and I, sort of become this little trio on camera and it's just a great dynamic between the three of us, we all get on so well, the characters haven't really changed at all, so for us it's a nice stepping off point to explore new things with the characters. And Zendaya's great, she brings so much new stuff to that character that we know and love so well and I think audiences will really really connect with her playing MJ.

I think one of my favorite scenes in the first movie, in huge part because it was a superhero movie and it required no powers to be an awesome scene was the scene in the car with Michael Keaton. Would you say there's something kind of equivalent to that, like anything you've read in the script or shot already where you're like “Alright wow this is suspense time, no super powers,” or anything like that?

HOLLAND: There's a scene in this film where audiences will feel like they've been punched in the face. Even filming it, I remember walking out and then watching it again on the monitors and asking Jon like, "Are you sure that's okay?" And he's like, "No, it's not, people are going to hate this scene." But it really ... Got it's pretty crazy, and it's very similar in the way that it's very tense, and it sort of rips the rug from underneath your feet and it's pretty awesome.