Marvin Brown, dancer: My first reaction was, "is he going to dress as Rihanna?" That's what we were all excited about. I didn't want to be the one responsible for injuring Spider-Man. I did not know who Tom Holland was.īaza Novic, prop master: My main focus and responsibility was Tom not getting hurt by any of the dynamic props and staging elements. Kuk Harrell, "Umbrella" co-writer and producer: That stuff always goes through the publisher, and then they just logistically reached out to us and asked if we would like to grant permission for "Umbrella" to be used.
I think we always wanted it to be "Umbrella." And I'm sure that it was traumatic for me at the moment, choreographing two numbers and not knowing which one.
There's the contingency of, 'If you don't do this, then you'll be doing Britney and we'll teach you a new dance.' Holland to People in 2017įlora: I don't remember at all. I didn't have approval on 'Umbrella' until like five hours before we did the show. Just in case "Umbrella" didn't go through, we had a backup performance. Jeanie Cheek, costume designer: We actually created two different sets of costumes for him and all of the dancers. We'd say we have Tom Holland coming on the show, and Rihanna would need to bless it. Patterson: We would clear song by song and have to go to each artist. Britney Spears' "Oops I Did It Again" was prepared as a backup, and, according to the creative brief viewed by Insider, would have involved Holland dressed in the classic red latex jumpsuit and a possible cameo from Spears in costume as an astronaut. Once the show decided on "Umbrella," it wasn't certain that they could get the rights. Getting Rihanna's blessingĮvery song performed on "Lip Sync Battle" has to get cleared by the artists and songwriters involved in the track. He's speaking to an audience who wouldn't think twice about him doing a Rihanna song and doing it in tribute to exactly the way that she did it in the video. "You got Tom super excited about this big, risky idea." But it was just so organic. Patterson: There was a little bit of like, "Casey, what have you done?" kind of thing. I had no idea when Tom walked in that he was going to be able to do everything and then some. In 2010, then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, center, met with actors who played Billy Elliot - including a 13-year-old Tom Holland, far right.įlora: My process is creating ideas and hoping that whoever my celebrity is, maybe they'll be able to dance a little bit and perform a few counts sprinkled throughout the number. This is what they listen to, this is their music list." And then me and some of the writers would pitch ideas to Casey and talk her through how we visualized it. They loved the idea that they could show how multi-talented he is because you're going to see the physicality in "Spider-Man," but you really get to know someone when they come to "Lip Sync Battle."ĭanielle Flora, choreographer: At that time, we would say, "Okay, here are our celebrities that are coming in. They wanted to introduce Tom to an American audience in that spirit. Zendaya episode to promote 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' ahead of its July 2017 release.Ĭasey Patterson, executive producer: I really think it was in keeping with how they were positioning "Spider-Man" at the time, which was: It's all new. Sony approached the "Lip Sync Battle" producers with the idea of doing a Holland vs.
Representatives for Zendaya and Rihanna did not respond to requests for comment.) The concept (A representative for Holland told Insider that he was "respectfully declining interview requests for the near future." Representatives for show host LL Cool J and co-host Chrissy Teigen declined requests for comment.
"I get more compliments from dancing in the rain in fishnets than anything I've done."īelow, to celebrate the episode's 4th anniversary, those who worked on it - including producers, choreographers, writers, and dancers - reveal to Insider how the seminal moment in pop culture history came to be. "That 'Lip Sync Battle' is kind of one of those things that has kind of come back to haunt me a little bit," Holland told Entertainment Weekly earlier this year. Holland, Zendaya, and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" director John Watt.
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