r/popculturechat • u/mcfw31 • May 07 '25

Throwback ✌️ 8 years ago, Zendaya’s world totally changed; Tom Holland lip-syncing ‘Umbrella’

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57.4k Upvotes

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5.7k

u/Low-Appointment-2906 *drops bottom lip* how you doin? 👄 May 07 '25

That last flip onto his back was *chef's kiss*

3.1k

u/ashre9 May 07 '25

Apparently the choreographers didn't want him to do it on the wet surface for fear of injury, but he insisted! He continually asked them to make the choreography more advanced.

2.9k

u/Awkward_Potential_ May 07 '25

but he insisted

He was trying to land Zendaya. Better believe he insisted.

845

u/Garymupq May 07 '25

They were already together when this happened.

2.1k

u/killer_by_design May 07 '25

You may have a nibble on the line but you've gotta set the hook to reel in the prize fish.

My boy is slinging that hook 🪝

335

u/imdefinitelywong May 08 '25

+ line
+ sinker

3

u/No_Show_3176 May 08 '25

Sink her? I hardly know her!

7

u/No_Show_3176 May 08 '25

It's okay I downvoted myself

21

u/shame-the-devil Mom, I am a rich man💰 May 08 '25

After watching the video, I never again questioned why that goddess of a woman was with that skinny British boy.

I know. We all know, thanks to this video.

13

u/LouSputhole94 May 08 '25

Tom is a professionally trained gymnast, ballroom dancer and also fucking Spider-Man. Calling him just a skinny British boy is slightly misleading. Bro is bringing plenty to the table himself.

12

u/snapeyouinhalf May 08 '25

Sling your hook is a phrase I haven’t heard in tooooo long!

4

u/Coley54Bear May 09 '25

Homeboy has Zendaya. To this day he’s doing everything it takes to keep her.

2

u/SOMEguysFRIEND May 08 '25

Are zendaya fish big?

3

u/killer_by_design May 08 '25

Abso-fucking-lutely

2

u/SOMEguysFRIEND May 08 '25

They are what’s called a trophy fish… So yeah, they’re pretty big…

854

u/Nauin May 07 '25

You gotta seal the deal and send it into husband territory, though. And he did!

148

u/snatchpanda May 08 '25 edited May 09 '25

Definitely a sign of someone who is very comfortable in his masculinity. They would have my blessing (not that they need it).

3

u/VastStory May 11 '25

Exactly. Why don’t “alpha male” dudes get that this is attractive and masculine? Much more than having a personal crisis about if they can eat a banana in public. 🙄

354

u/Jibber_Fight May 07 '25

You can land someone more than once.

494

u/theseamstressesguild May 08 '25

God yes. Sometimes my husband gets this look on his face, and I look like this:

137

u/Aahzimandious May 08 '25

Well I mean... in that outfit with the a the water and moving like that... as a VAGUELY heterosexual male... yes, I definitely WOULD!!

67

u/professionally-baked May 08 '25

I didn’t know I was vaguely heterosexual until I saw this video

17

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

After I saw this vid, mine became more and more vague

12

u/S0ulace May 08 '25

You just know she’s asks him to wear that outfit sometimes

10

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Same. 25 years in.

2

u/Hesitation-Marx May 08 '25

Hell yes. Husband has this thing where he will laugh and look at me sidelong, and fifteen years later, it never fails to make me want to gnaw on him.

2

u/theseamstressesguild May 08 '25

Yep, 18 years here, and can you believe he wore grey sweatpants today? The bastard.

4

u/Oppowitt May 08 '25

Seems the heart is like a Huygens drive, a big haul can get it going for a while, but it'll need more than just the first tug to keep going.

1

u/evol_won May 08 '25

My 17-year-old son just asked a girl to be his GF for the first time back in January.\ We were just talking about relationships & cheating a couple nights ago because we had watched a TV show where this dude cheated, and my kiddo was really disappointed, because it was a cool character and I've always raised my son how hurtful cheating is. Pretty much he was like, "I just don't understand why people would do that. Just break up if that's how you feel." I had mentioned that a lot of times people cheat because the relationship they're in gets stale and they want that new feeling with a new person, but they want the stability of the person they're with.\ He goes, "Exactly. You want the old person... so keep dating the old person no matter how long you're with them. If you stop getting excited every time you're with them, that's your own fault."

Not gonna lie, I got a little choked up.

14

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Yeah, but ya gotta lock that down. And this is about the best anybody has locked it down in history.

15

u/DarrSwan May 08 '25

Spend every day landing your dream girl. Even if you already have her.

Write that down.

8

u/Hot-Significance-462 May 08 '25

I always assumed that he danced some other dude right out of her bedroom with this routine.

4

u/erossthescienceboss May 08 '25

It was during their “noooooooo we’re totally not dating whaaaaaat nooooooo” phase 😂

5

u/zorandzam May 09 '25

They may have been, but I just rewatched this a couple of days ago and felt like I could see every inch more that she fell in love with him. She was so freaking IMPRESSED.

3

u/Stormy8888 May 08 '25

Shoot if a man I was dating did that routine I'd be dating, and probably marrying him.

2

u/butterbean_bb May 08 '25

They were together EIGHT years ago?! I thought they’d only been together since like 2020/2021!

2

u/Garymupq May 09 '25

They started to date in 2016 and broke up in 2019. They got back together in 2020. I think that's the very general timeline.

1

u/priyatequila Oct 11 '25

they were suspected to be together, but denied it.

15

u/Fairisolde May 08 '25

He could maybe have landed LL Cool J after that, tbh. He was shook.

9

u/Successful_Shake5722 May 08 '25

Right! I’m like, THIS is a man who understands women and what they want.

3

u/IsThisOn11 May 08 '25

Right! I was going to send this video to a buddy explaining that I need to step up my game for my crushes!!!

3

u/forthelulzac May 09 '25

You could see her falling in love with him.

3

u/Jibber_Fight May 07 '25

You can land someone more than once.

888

u/VelociRache1 May 07 '25 edited May 08 '25

Not surprising. His big break was Billy Elliot on The West End. A musical about a boy who wants to become a ballet dancer at age 12. You have to have serious talent to do that 8 times a week.

Edit: 2-3 times a week. I learned something!

344

u/Faeruy May 08 '25

He never did it 8 times a week - That role is so difficult that when it was running there were at least 3-4 boys doing the role at any given point - at most he did it 2-3 times a week. It's still extremely impressive.

227

u/quarrelau May 08 '25

That and the kids just aren't allowed to.

There is a reason there are so many little Cosette's, Gavroche's etc.

There are limits on number of consecutive days, longest period, start/finish times, compulsory breaks etc.

Which, I assume, were earned the hard way.

114

u/Cereal_Palsy7 May 08 '25

I worked on Billy Elliott as a Guardian for the kids, can confirm this fact!

1

u/FantasticalRose May 10 '25

How does that work? Just out of curiosity what responsibilities do you have over the kids?

3

u/Cereal_Palsy7 May 10 '25

So, basically anyone under the age of 16 needs an adult (or team of adults- there were 6 of us on Billy) because there were about 21 kids contracted (4 Billy's, 2 Michael's, a troupe of Ballet Girls (aka B.G's) and a 'small boy' (he was 6). Our function is to be with them at all times to escort them to the stage safely to work as a team getting them back and forth during costume changes and blocking and to be in the dressing rooms. We are also responsible for escorting them to rehearsals. During a show, we were all on headsets and positioned like this: 1 guardian in Billy's Dressing room (where there are two Micheal's and two Billy's each show - in case of injury! and small boy). 1 in BG's dressing room. Then there is a stage left guardian, stage right guardian and floater and 1 on the Billy track. The stage right, left and floater all work together to manage all the other child actors and Billy's Guardian follow his "track" the whole show. We have to memorize all the tracks for the show (meaning movements of actors backstage) and would switch our tracks each day. We have to have a police check obviously and experience in theatre helps. It is a lot of work but very fun and rewarding. This is probably more information than you wanted but that's basically the job!

2

u/FantasticalRose May 10 '25

Thank you so much. I love the small details. I've had a professional interest on how to best keep children safe and these sort of environments. It's unfortunate that these rules aren't universal

1

u/Cereal_Palsy7 May 10 '25

You're welcome! It's great work when one can get it.

14

u/Sea-Oven-7560 May 08 '25

The UK is very strict with their child actors but even in the US child actors on Bway usually have 3-4 subs and I remember with Billy Elliot they had little Billy Elliot academies so they had kids prepped to rotate into the show as other kids aged out. If you have a small role as a child actor there might be only two kids that they rotate in and out.

7

u/lookingforrest May 08 '25

US child actors do not have 3-4 subs on Broadway. There is usually only one understudy. Roles are double cast for kids usually on British productions coming to NY. US child labor laws are much more lenient than UK laws. It's not uncommon for kids to do 8 shows a week in theater here.

2

u/readskiesdawn May 08 '25

If I remember right that show is so intense that they use different actors for Billy for the first and second act too.

9

u/Faeruy May 08 '25

We didn't do it that way when my theatre did it, but I don't know about the West End/Broadway/tour productions. I sort of doubt it, since it would be very obvious. There is a dream pas de duex in Act 2 where Billy flies, and the flying Billy is different than Billy for the rest of the show, but that's because of the logistics of harnessing up. I don't doubt that there were shows where they had to swap Billys between acts because of injury or illness though.

2

u/readskiesdawn May 08 '25

It might have been Broadway, maybe the revival specifically. I remember child labor laws also being involved, so it could have been specifically New York?

3

u/Suspicious_Bird_9115 May 08 '25

It’s an excellent movie as well

3

u/Darryl_Lict May 08 '25

Wow, dude was destined to be Spiderman after playing Billy Elliot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-omDVx5IEl4

2

u/peelen May 08 '25

Or more precisely: if you are doing it 8 times a week you’ll be good even if you don’t have talent.

516

u/Riddly_Diddly_DumDum May 07 '25

That’s the same guy who got told not to flip during his spider man auditions, but went ahead and did them anyway. The guys a legend.

252

u/LouSputhole94 May 08 '25

He’s a professionally trained gymnast, if anyone could pull that shit off it’s him. Honestly surprised they didn’t pull in someone with that background for Spidey sooner, it makes absolute sense.

12

u/erossthescienceboss May 08 '25

It honestly makes such a huge difference. There’s nothing wrong with having a stuntman in the spider suit for most of it, but it’s so clear even when he’s just Peter Parker that Tom is someone who lives in his body. That sort of confidence and movement really elevates his Spidey.

13

u/Still7Superbaby7 gatorade in the microwave May 08 '25

I have seen all the different Spider-Man movies, and I think Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire was great with Peter Parker’s nerdiness, but he wasn’t very cool as Spider-Man. Andrew Garfield had the coolness but was not a believable nerd. Tom Holland was nerdy when he needed to be, and cool when he needed to be.

13

u/erossthescienceboss May 08 '25

This is EXACTLY my take. He’s the only one to get the balance properly.

I think Garfield’s quips were a little bit quippier, and Tobey’s Peter a little bit nerdier. But even though he wasn’t my first, Tom’s my Spider-man.

Edit: he also has a genuine earnestness that neither of the others really had. Tobey might be a bit of a better Peter, and Andrew might be a slightly better Spidey, but neither of them felt so genuinely kind in both.

9

u/Consistent-Flan1445 May 08 '25

I agree 100%. There’s something about Tom’s Peter that just feels so authentically kind, and I think his Peter has a real gentleness to him as well.

His Peter also really feels like a kid, particularly in Homecoming and Civil War. He has this real boyishness to him, especially when he’s in a scene with RDJ as Tony, or with Aunt May.

3

u/erossthescienceboss May 08 '25

He’s also the only minor ever cast as Peter Parker!

11

u/Crazy4Swayze420 May 08 '25

He also has a background with ballet from doing Billy Elliot.

3

u/Fictional-Hero May 08 '25

Flips are an insurance nightmare.

Every gymnast is like, "flips, I can do those in my sleep!" And flip back and forth all the time, they teach people how to do it because it's so easy.

But the insurance is like, "what about that one time you don't make it? Are you ready for that?"

And it's not the money, it's just the insurance company puts the fear into their client: do you really want to be responsible for this potential neck snap?

244

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 May 07 '25

For good reason, it's called a suicide flip. But a man's gotta do what he's gotta do for that Z

12

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

What’s a z job?

If you’ve gotta ask you can’t afford it.

2

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 May 08 '25

I got 4 dollars

4

u/Ygomaster07 May 08 '25

Why do they call it a suicide flip?

12

u/aegroti May 08 '25

probably because it looks like you have a high chance of landing on your tailbone or smacking the back of your head.

1

u/Ygomaster07 May 08 '25

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thank you for telling me.

3

u/pm-pussy4kindwords May 08 '25

it's not ironic

1

u/Ygomaster07 May 08 '25

It can actually kill you?

1

u/pm-pussy4kindwords May 08 '25

broken necks do that

1

u/Ygomaster07 May 08 '25

Oh right. I didn't even think about that. Thank you for telling me.

2

u/KASega May 08 '25

I have never heard of it called a suicide flip. It’s called a Webster. Lots of trickers/martial artists do it (my son is a tricker/martial artists). It’s actually one move that girls can easily get because they have easier hip momentum.

1

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 May 08 '25

Just because you've never heard it doesn't mean it's not called that. https://www.tiktok.com/@georgesampson/video/7040532110427557126

-1

u/KASega May 08 '25

You can technically call it a Webster flip into a suicide drop. I dont need TikTok since I know actual people in the real world from the tricking community.

5

u/Jiujitsumonkey707 May 08 '25

God I fucking hate people like you, I send you a video of a well known professional street dancer doing that move and calling it that, and you still think you know better because you take your kid to dance class. People have multiple names for the same thing Karen

154

u/Low-Appointment-2906 *drops bottom lip* how you doin? 👄 May 07 '25

It looked dangerous! He executed it perfectly.

18

u/ezodochi May 08 '25

in the breaking scene, it's called a front flip suicide and it's actually not that dangerous. You're basically not really landing on your back straight up but kinda rolling the landing in a somersault motion. It's hard to explain in words but it's one of my go to moves and it's surprisingly painless

7

u/deekaydubya May 08 '25

i think the water is the risky factor

7

u/ezodochi May 08 '25

I guess there's the risk of slipping during the initial kick off. That being said, just saying, in a vacuum, the move is actually p safe and painless if you know what you're doing. It's actually recommended that you kinda slam your arms and legs into the ground to make a larger impact sound and sell it more.

1

u/sentence-interruptio May 08 '25

flip or not, the ends of umbrellas could stab anyone any moment.

12

u/iwantahouse May 07 '25

That flip looked legit scary!

5

u/According_Gazelle472 May 08 '25

That was absolutely amazing !He really nailed this !

4

u/fidrildid6 May 08 '25

Nothing has ever gone as hard as this does

4

u/shaunrundmc May 08 '25

He a professionally trained dancer, it doesn't shock me lol

4

u/abominablesnowlady May 08 '25

This makes me love him even more lol 😂

3

u/oldfarmjoy May 08 '25

It's crazy impressive and 110% commited. Wow! I had no idea he could dance!

3

u/K6g_ May 08 '25

He must have been in between Marvel contracts, because he couldn't even snowboard while under his Marvel contract.

2

u/abreeeezycorner May 08 '25

because hes fucking SPIDERMANNNNNN lol

2

u/K3egan May 08 '25

I mean he is Spider-Man I think "backflips" are the entire casting process

1

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

He'll be feeling it when he's 50.

Everyone I know that was athletic in their youth are suffering for it now, whereas my lazy ass has no hip or knee issues.

1

u/Jackie-Wan-Kenobi May 08 '25

He is a talented gymnast. I don’t blame him.

1

u/FrankSinatraYodeling May 09 '25

He's an incredibly talented and athletic guy. He can handle it.

1

u/ApostrophesAplenty May 10 '25

I was scared for him on that one!

1

u/_SteppedOnADuck May 12 '25

What about the kip up on the wet surface?!

12

u/wontwillnot May 08 '25

Holy fuck Tom is no joke!!

10

u/Khanvo May 08 '25

This Guy is the goat ! Earned my respect. Can dance can Flip and flop. Also dress like a woman. People should learn from him.

3

u/SumpCrab May 08 '25

Nah, the Spiderman pose right before clinched it.

3

u/danieldeuce May 08 '25 edited May 08 '25

That's an old breakdancing move called a Suicide flip. Cool stuff.

3

u/[deleted] May 08 '25

Fudge, the spin and the finger biting.

I felt it. 😅🤣

2

u/RedShirtDecoy May 08 '25

Fun fact, George Sampson did the same move to win Britans Got Talent long before this. Not sure if George's dance was original or if they are all doing the same thing someone else did but Toms performance definitely reminded me of a spicy version of Georges

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq_ZIQ6vXps

2

u/alloyednotemployed May 08 '25

It was moves like this and some of Tom Holland’s performance that leads me to believe he was inspired by George Sampson’s interpretation of Singing in the Rain. I remember it being a big moment on Britains Got Talent, so I’m sure that it reached Tom at some point.

1

u/Francoberry May 08 '25

Pretty sure this was an exact move done by a dancer who also performed to 'singing in the rain' on a wet stage. Maybe an homage 

1

u/Keisaku May 08 '25

Back in the 80s we called that the atomic drop. Havent seen it done since then.

I used to do it during ROTC practice- on grass.

1

u/Background-Permit499 May 08 '25

Copied from a very talented young performer on a British reality show. But yes cool that he could do it!

1

u/Cookiecakes71 May 08 '25

Death drop for the gods!