With director Jon Watts' Spider-Man: No Way Home getting ready to break pandemic box office records when it opens in theaters December 17th, I recently got to speak with Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon about making the highly anticipated sequel. During the fun interview, they talked about why the dialogue scenes are the heart and soul of the movie, what they wish more people knew about making a Spider-Man film, Zendaya's idea for a Teachers of Midtown High School movie, when they found out the sequel would involve the multiverse, how at one point Watts had pitched Holland on a Kraven movie for the sequel, if they’ve pitched the studio on doing a What If…? episode where MJ or Ned gets bit by the spider, and more. In addition, Holland talks about filming the fight scene between him and Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin and how they both gave everything to the scene including Holland's blood.

As most of you know, Spider-Man: No Way Home begins after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home where J. Jonah Jameson (J. K. Simmons) has revealed Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world after being convinced by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) that the Web Crawler is a villain. As you’ve seen in the trailer, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to see if he can erase Spider-Man’s real identity from everyone’s memory. Unfortunately, the spell doesn’t work and instead brings visitors from other realities into the MCU.

No Way Home also sees the return of Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, Angourie Rice as Betty Brant, Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus, Jamie Foxx’s Electro, Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Thomas Haden Church's Sandman, and Rhys Ifans' Lizard. Jon Watts returns to direct this third installment, based on a script written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, who both penned the previous two films.

Spider Man No Way Home Tom Holland Zendaya — Image via Sony

Check out what Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the full transcript.

Tom Holland, Zendaya and Jacob Batalon

Have they seen What If…? and have they pitched the studio on doing an episode where MJ or Ned gets bit by the spider?
How Zendaya has been pitching an idea called The Teachers of Midtown High School.
Who was the person they least expected to ask them for spoilers on Spider-Man: No Way Home?
Did they know making the first movie they were building towards the multiverse?
How Jon Watts pitched Holland on a Kraven movie for the 3rd Spider-Man movie but that obviously didn’t happen.
How the dialogue scenes are the heart and soul of the movie and the challenges of getting them right.
How a lot of Jacob Batalon’s dialogue in No Way Home is him improvising.
What do they wish more people knew about what it takes to make a Spider-Man movie?
How the fight scene between Holland and Green Goblin got bloody.

Collider: I'll start with this. I really enjoyed What If...? on Disney+.

ZENDAYA: I did too.

Have you guys watched it and have you pitched the studio or pitched Marvel on the three of you doing an episode where perhaps MJ gets bitten by the spider, or Ned gets bit by the spider and the three of you are able to do this in a voiceover?

ZENDAYA: Would love to.

JACOB BATALON: That'd be fun. That sounds really fun.

TOM HOLLAND: Would love to do that

ZENDAYA: I really enjoyed that. I always watch the episode with Spiderman and the zombies.

BATALON: The zombie one.

HOLLAND: Yeah so I haven't seen it...

BATALON: The zombie one.

HOLLAND: I need to watch it. It's unlike me to not keep up to date with the Marvel stuff. It's just one thing I've missed.

ZENDAYA: No, it's very fun.

HOLLAND: But I think that's a great idea. Zendaya has been pitching an idea for a Disney+ movie, which is called The teachers of Midtown High which is like a sitcom...

ZENDAYA: No, Also I don't know if it's my idea so much as the Internet's idea but...

HOLLAND: Take the credit for it.

ZENDAYA: Or maybe it was John Watts's idea, because we kind of have bonus features in...

HOLLAND: I think that would be a great TV show.

ZENDAYA: In some movies that are already that, but I would love to see teachers of Midtown, just their mundane teacher things and being, dealing and living in a…

HOLLAND: We could cameo in it every now and then.

ZENDAYA: In a superhero universe.

HOLLAND: We could be like alumni that come back to the school and give speeches about stuff. It could be great.

Spider Man No Way Home Tom Holland — Image via Sony

I am sure that there were people over the last year or two that have asked you to spoil or tell them things about this movie. Who is the person that you least expected to ask you for information that actually asked you for information?

HOLLAND: Kevin Feige actually asked me some information. I'm joking.

ZENDAYA: Did he?

HOLLAND: He knows everything. He doesn't need to ask me for information.

ZENDAYA: I was like that literally makes no sense.

BATALON: I don't think that's true.

ZENDAYA: Yeah, that sounds like a lie.

HOLLAND: Guys, I was joking. Kevin Feige knows everything about these movies. Someone who asked me to spoil it…

ZENDAYA: I don't know. I feel like everybody.

BATALON: Everyone pretty...

HOLLAND: Everyone wants to know really.

ZENDAYA: Everybody is a Spider-Man fan. That's what I've learned.

HOLLAND: I've met like a few basketball players, who have been really excited about it.

By the way, I didn't start with this, but I want to just compliment you guys. I saw the opening 38 minutes and it's spectacular...

HOLLAND: Thank you.

It's so good. I know fans are going to absolutely love it. How long have you guys actually know…did you know making the first movie that you were building towards the multiverse? How long have you guys known what this movie was really going to be?

HOLLAND: At least a couple years we've known.

ZENDAYA: We've known for awhile. But not that long.

HOLLAND: Yeah maybe not from the beginning. I didn't even know what the first movie was about when I was making the first movie.

BATALON: Accurate.

HOLLAND: We were so in the dark.

BATALON: Right.

HOLLAND: But now we really know, and we're part of the team, the creative team, they trust our opinions and they ask us questions and stuff. So we've been sitting on this secret for a very long time, longer than I would've liked.

ZENDAYA: And to be fair, when we first heard about it, I was like, "Okay, cool" but that's probably not going to happen.

BATALON: Not going to happen.

ZENDAYA: So later they'll pitch something else because that didn't work out and here we are and it totally worked out.

BATALON: Yeah later, now we're finally talking about it.

HOLLAND: That was for a long time, there was a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren't working out and all sorts of different stuff. John pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool. I don't want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun.

The thing about the Spider-Man movies and all the MCU movies in general is, they're all going to have these kick ass action scenes, right? I get that. But my favorite stuff with you guys in all these movies, is just the dialogue scenes between the three of you. It's so well done. Just the dynamics between your relationships. I am curious if you could talk a little bit about filming those scenes and working with John to sort of get those right. Cause I think that's the stuff that everyone wants, you know what I mean? It's those dialogue moments.

HOLLAND: I mean this, this heart and soul in the movie.

BATALON: Sure.

ZENDAYA: And John's super collaborative and allows for us to bring whatever ideas or thoughts we have about the characters. I mean, cause we have lived with them for quite a while, so we know a little something, but I think it's really special, because we care about the character so much and what they go through. Like I said, John has a great way of taking all of our ideas or things that we bring to the table and then actually somehow finding a way to make it make sense.

BATALON: Put it all together.

ZENDAYA: And put it into something that actually is a scene.

HOLLAND: Yeah. Absolutely.

ZENDAYA: Those are my favorite scenes too.

HOLLAND: They're my favorite scenes too.

BATALON: Absolutely.

I HOLLAND: think you've really, especially in this movie, come into your own, where it's in a term of improvising.

BATALON: Oh for sure.

HOLLAND: Lots of Jacob's stuff in this film is like off the cuff improvised lines. And a lot of our reactions is probably very genuine.

Spider Man No Way Home villains — Image via Sony

Everyone watching these movies at home, will see the film and think it was just easy and stuff, but I don't think enough people realize what it really takes to make a movie of this scale and scope. So for each of you, could you sort of share what you'd like more people to know about what it really takes to make a movie like this?

HOLLAND: I mean, when I say there's a lot blood, sweat and tears, I'm not exaggerating. Making these films is incredibly tough and physical, especially when you're playing a character like Spider-Man. We all believe so much in these characters and we give it 110%. I know in my fight scene with the Goblin, I bust my hand up... my knuckles were bloodied and we were really going for it. We were putting everything into it. And I remember on the last day of shooting that fight scene when John said cut, Willem and I both just collapsed to the floor because we were exhausted and we just had given him everything. I remember just chugging red bulls to try and keep my energy going. I remember Rachel O'Connor's son came into first AD that day and it was actually really nice because we had this, how old reckon he was like 12 maybe. He was first ADing for us. And even though it was ridiculous…

ZENDAYA: Calling action and stuff

HOLLAND: His energy and his excitement gave us like a second wind to really give this action sequence. It's like full potential. So that was a lot of fun.

ZENDAYA: I think it's all just the amount, the people that work on a movie like this.

BATALON: For sure.

ZENDAYA: We were also doing it during COVID. So, that created a whole new set of challenges. And yet there were so many villains that had to appear and scheduling and I don't know how AD's do what they do, but the fact that any of it made sense and was able...shout out to David Venghaus. There's so many people behind the scenes that work so hard to make this a reality. Every single thing, everything you see, somebody is behind it. Somebody's put really a lot of love and care into it, because they care as much as we, I mean, we're all fans. I think beyond ourselves, there's just so much that you don't see. And then after, in post-production, so many people are building these images and making them look beautiful. So it's really…

HOLLAND: People from all over the world, as well.

ZENDAYA: It's a labor of love from so many different people.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters December 17th.