Marvel stars Jon Bernthal, Tom Holland share screen in medieval monk movie 'Pilgrimage'

April 24 (UPI) -- Jon Bernthal has nothing but high praise for Tom Holland, his young co-star in the medieval drama Pilgrimage.

Holland, 20, plays a novice monk, while Bernthal, 40, is his mute protector. Together, they travel across Ireland with members of a Catholic order sworn to guard a sacred relic with their lives against the vicious blackguards who want the artifact for their own purposes.

Asked by UPI in a phone interview Sunday if he felt a connection to Holland since they both also appear in Marvel superhero projects, Bernthal replied: "I can't say enough good about Tom Holland.

"His process of tackling Spider-Man was all going on through this film. I think he made three audition tapes while he was there. He was part of my audition tape for Punisher," he recalled. "I saw a fortitude with him and a drive in him. It's not even that you don't see it in kids his age, you just don't see it in people. He was absolutely determined to win that part. It's how he lives his life. He is incredibly brave, just ridiculously talented. But, more important, he's very kind and a great, great young man from an unbelievably beautiful family. I've gotten to know his parents, his brothers. He's a great guy and I think he is going to have everything he wants in this world and I couldn't imagine it happening to a better person."

Bernthal plays Frank Castle in Netflix's Daredevil and soon-to-premiere The Punisher. Holland has portrayed Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War and will also be seen as the iconic web-slinger in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Co-starring Richard Armitage, John Lynch and Hugh O'Conor, Pilgrimage debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York Sunday night. It is set for U.S. release this summer.