"The producers and the people at Sony, they needed to be convinced, because obviously, there were a lot of much more high-profile actors that they had in mind that would help with the box office. It was very nerve-wracking."
At least he wasn't auditioning for his character from WHIPLASH! As for appearing in future SPIDER-MAN installments, Simmons is signed on for future films, presumably as this J Jonah Jameson MCU version, and added, "It's great to have the opportunity, as these things evolve, to be one of the holdovers from the previous version." Sounds good to me… as long as they don't bring the previous "dancing Peter Parker" back!