Tom Holland Says There Was “A Lot of Animosity” On ‘The Crowded Room’ Set

Tom Holland is known for starring in some of the biggest movie franchises in the world, but he has also dabbled in the TV realm. Many critics failed to respond positively to The Crowded Room, but the Apple TV+ thriller was Holland’s first leading role on television. The Crowded Room followed Danny Sullivan (Holland), a young man with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) who is arrested after being involved in a shooting in New York City in 1979. Due to the stress of making the series, Holland took a year-long acting break after finishing The Crowded Room. It was previously understood that the pressure of playing the complex character played a part in the decision, but Holland has also now revealed that the set was not “a very harmonious place.”

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Holland revealed that the set of The Crowded Room was subject to frequent arguments and unrest. Holland, a producer on the series, did not divulge who or what exactly transpired during these heated exchanges, but he confirmed that they did not actually involve creative decisions. His words:

“There was quite a lot of animosity on that set. It was not a very harmonious place, and there was a lot of arguing and butting heads.”

Fortunately, instead of spiraling as a result of the stress of the job, Holland made sure to stick to his sobriety. “I thought, If I start drinking again now, with all this going on, it’s gonna get worse, right?” The combination of executive producing and starring in the psychological thriller had such a toll that he took a year-long break from acting. The Spider-Man actor is more than used to the physical stress of the job, but for Holland, the mental aspect of the experience “really beat me up and it took a long time for me to recover afterwards, to sort of get back to reality.”

Holland starred in The Crowded Room alongside Amanda Seyfried, Emmy Rossum, Christopher Abbott, and Sasha Lane, among many others. Lane, in particular, helped Holland out during the tumultuous shoot as he attempted to handle the emotional weight of the role. Holland told EW:

“She was so helpful for me, because there were moments on set where I really was struggling to understand Danny’s reasoning or Danny’s actions. She would take me aside and was really open and willing to share some of her experiences that were so helpful in the moment.”

‘The Crowded Room’ Failed to Impress Critics (But Audiences Enjoyed It)

Despite the star power in front of and behind the screen, The Crowded Room did not manage to impress critics upon release, only reaching 33% on Rotten Tomatoes with 54 reviews counted. Hailing from showrunner Akiva Goldsman (Constantine, I Am Legend), Apple’s psychological thriller was deemed “an exhausting and often frustrating experience” by many critics. Upon the show’s arrival in 2023, Tom Holland spoke in earnest about the negative reviews for The Crowded Room, admitting it was “a kick in the teeth” to read them.

“It was a kick in the teeth. Rolling over, looking up the reviews, and then all of a sudden I was like, “Wow. That’s a bad review.” Sometimes there’s a redeeming quality in there. There was nothing… There will be good ones. There will be. I try to have a healthy outlook on all that sort of stuff and respect everyone’s opinion.”

Of course, critic reviews are not the only barometer of success for movies and television. The Crowded Room proudly boasts a 92% Popcornmeter score from general audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. The show also has a 7.7 rating on IMDb by 37,000 users, but it may be slightly inflated by diehard Holland stans (still an impressive number nonetheless). It seems The Crowded Room is simply one of many examples where critics and general audiences differ in taste, although Apple TV+’s original content is rarely as divisive as the Holland-led project.

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Release Date

June 9, 2023

Streaming Service(s)

AppleTV+