Zendaya may make swinging through New York look effortless playing MJ alongside her longtime boo Tom Holland in his Spider-Man movies, but in a recent interview the actress revealed one behind-the-scenes stunt that proves it’s far scarier than it looks on screen. And the way she described it had both the audience and me gasping, just hearing about it.
Taking a break from her busy 2025 movie schedule, the actress recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (via the show’s official Instagram account). Zendaya recalled one particularly wild stunt attempt from the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. With her trademark comedy chops, she painted a picture that was equal parts thrilling and terrifying:
You know, it’s mostly Tom. You know, I let him handle that. [Laughing] But… there is one thing we got to do. It was like, this big, kind of, Spidey swing through New York. And so what they had us do is basically like, they attached a camera to Tom and attached us together, and they, like, lifted us, like I want to say, 110 feet?
The crowd audibly gasped, prompting the Euphoria star to shoot back with perfectly timed: “Thank you… My sentiments exactly!” That wasn’t even the scariest part. Zendaya went on to explain that beneath them wasn’t a secure stunt rig or safety net, but rather… cardboard. She continued:
Over, like to be honest with you, boxes. They had like, I don’t know, apparently it works. There’s like these empty boxes stacked together. And I was like… ‘That’s it. That’s all we got? Alright!’ And we did it, and it was amazing, and I’m proud of myself for doing it. We did it. It was a big swing.
For those keeping track, that means the two Spider-Man stars, who happen to be two of the most bankable and in-demand stars in Hollywood, were dangling more than a hundred feet in the air with little more than a pile of boxes as backup. If that sounds nerve-wracking, you’re not alone.
In true Hollywood fashion, after all that danger and adrenaline, the stunt didn’t even make the final cut. Zendaya laughed as she explained the anticlimax:
They didn’t end up using that. Okay? We reshot it. And guess how we reshot it? We reshot it 2 feet above the ground, with wind machines… literally 2 feet above the ground with a wind machine, and our director going, ‘Okay, scream!’ and then like going like this [shaking arms back and forth] with our bodies. He would just grab my arm or grab his arm and just kind of, like, go like this… and it looked better! I don’t know!
It’s the perfect example of movie magic: sometimes the most breathtaking shots come not from risky stunts but from clever camera tricks and a bit of imagination. And it’s an endearing story from a great actress that you can watch her tell it in full in the video below.
Zendaya’s fun retelling of her Spidey stunt is a reminder that even after years of playing MJ, she’s still surprised (and maybe a little terrified?) by the wild things new Marvel movies can throw her way. And given that this was just one of the stunts attempted for the upcoming superhero flick, it makes you wonder what else the cast has been through to bring the Web Head’s next chapter to life.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is currently in production, with Tom Holland returning as Peter Parker and the HBO star reprising her role as MJ. If Zendaya’s story is any indication, audiences are in for a ride when it hits the 2026 movie schedule on July 31, 2026.
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