With the ongoing WGA writers’ strike, it’s safe to assume plenty of upcoming films will see lengthy delays. And in the case of Tom Holland and his fourth “Spider-Man” film, that may be a good thing. Why’s that? Well, EW reports the actor needs some time away from in front of the camera thanks to his latest role in Apple TV+‘s “The Crowded Room” being so emotionally exhausting.
Holland opened up about how challenging his role as Danny Sullivan was for him in a new interview with Extra. “We were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before,” Holland said. “And then on top of that, being a producer dealing with the day-to-day kind of problems that come with any film set added that extra level of pressure. I really enjoyed it,” the actor continued, “but then again, the show did break me.”
“The Crowded Room” stars Holland as Sullivan, a teen arrested for a shooting at Rockefeller Center in the 1970s. As Amanda Seyfried‘s Rya Goodman conducts interviews with Danny while he’s in custody, their conversations lead to revelations about the young man’s inner life and personal demons. The ten-episode miniseries is inspired by Daniel Keyes‘ 1981 nonfiction novel “The Minds Of Billy Milligan,” based on the real crimes of Milligan. In real life, a jury acquitted Milligan of his crimes after he was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID).
So what are Holland’s plans for recuperation after such a challenging role? Holland said he plans on “taking a year off” from acting, and in his recent downtime, he’s “trying to be, you know [a] regular bloke from Kingston and just relax.” Relaxation for the actor means “seeing my family. I’ve been seeing my friends. I’ve been playing golf. I’ve been, you know, going to the garden center and buying plans and doing my best to keep them alive and all that sort of stuff.” In other words, Holland is seeking out low-key, relatively normal activities to do after playing a deviant character for so long.
Holland found the role of Sullivan the most challenging of his career, despite playing web-slinging Peter Parker and the treasure hunter Nathan Drake in “Uncharted.” “I’m no stranger to the physical aspects of the job doing the whole action-movie thing,” Holland explained, “but the mental aspect, it really beat me up, and it took a long time for me to recover afterwards, to sort of get back to reality.” Holland played Sullivan for nine months, and struggled to separate himself from the character once production wrapped. “I was seeing myself in him, but in my personal life,” Holland previously told EW. “I remember having a bit of a meltdown at home and thinking, like, ‘I’m going to shave my head. I need to shave my head because I need to get rid of this character.’ And, obviously, we were mid-shooting, so I decided not to… It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.”
With any luck, Holland will feel like he’s left the character of Danny Sullivan behind once he returns to acting. As for “The Crowded Room,” the limited series is streaming on Apple TV+ now.
