Tillman Had to Sign NDAs Before Spider-Man Meeting
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- Tramell Tillman told GQ he was required to sign NDAs before his first conversation with 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' director Destin Daniel Cretton, saying the blanket secrecy was 'a little frustrating because everything was shrouded in secrecy.'
- Tillman plays Bill Metzger, a government official who mitigates damage caused by superheroes, and said he modeled the character after Barack Obama, citing 'swag,' 'smoothness,' and 'steadiness.'
- Marvel kept the role under wraps because Metzger and Sadie Sink's Jean Grey are crossovers from the 'X-Men' stories into 'Spider-Man,' and the studio didn't want the collision of the two worlds to leak, per the article.
- Cretton could only confirm to Tillman that the role was 'pivotal,' forcing the actor to describe his decision as 'a leap of faith' without knowing specifically how the character would fit into the film.
- 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' has become the second-fastest film to reach $1 billion in total box office gross, a milestone the source notes suggests Tillman can likely expect to reprise the role.
- Tillman, an Emmy winner for Apple TV's 'Severance,' had been hoping to appear in a Marvel movie and learned Cretton specifically wanted to meet with him.
Why it matters: The NDAs weren't standard Hollywood caution — they were shielding the reveal that Marvel is formally bridging its X-Men franchise into Spider-Man onscreen, a crossover the studio worried would leak. For an actor, signing paperwork to enter a conversation with no role details is an unusually heavy gate, even by MCU standards, and the $1 billion box-office pace signals the studio's secrecy bet paid off before Tillman even knew what he'd signed up for.
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