Tom, 5'8, and Zendaya, 5'10, were promoting Spider-Man: No Way Home at a Sirius XM Town Hall event in December 2021 when presenter Jessica Shaw inquired how their on-screen kissing worked.
Tom and Zendaya quickly retorted, "What I'm saying is I'm fascinated by - because it's such a misogynistic thing that like, 'Oh my God, the woman [is taller]' and it is so problematic," in response to Shaw's statement.
Tom called it a "stupid assumption" that there would be an issue, but the Euphoria actress brought up the fact that it's normal for women to be taller than their spouses, saying things like, "My mom is taller than my dad."
My mother is taller than any of us. "It's ridiculous," Tom said, recalling that the majority of the ladies who had screen-tested with him were taller than him.
The actor from Impossible remarked, "I remember when we were doing the Spider-Man screen tests...you'd have to ask Jon Watts this question, but every girl that we tested for both roles was taller than me." Would that have been a choice taken by Jon?
Not a single person who tested shorter than me did. In all fairness, I am rather small, so perhaps Jon Watts made that choice because he knew the stigma and wanted to defy it. I believe it's fantastic.
The spokesperson for Bulgari continued, describing their characters' kiss as a "sweet moment" and complimenting the production for not trying to "cheat it" by having Tom stand on a box or something similar to create the appearance that he was taller.