For Tom Holland (London, 27 years old) the series The Crowded Room changed his life. “Now I’m a much happier person, I’m in a much better place,” he said in an interview with EL PAÍS via video call last week, exactly one day before his twenty-seventh birthday. The actor, known worldwide for his role as Peter Parker, Spider-Man, in cinemas since 2017, is now starring in his first series, psychological thriller The Crowded Room, which premieres Friday 9th on Apple TV+ celebrates its premiere.
In it he plays Danny Sullivan, a shy and antisocial young man who becomes involved in a shooting near Rockefeller Center in New York in 1979. During the interrogation he is subjected to by an investigator (played by Amanda Seyfried), Danny reflects on his life, his relationships with your friends and family, and how it all led you to where you are today. The story unfolds little by little like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces of which make sense and come together as the chapters progress. Knowing more than these small details can mean that the viewer spoils the film and the twists it contains.
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Filming for the series took 10 months and the whole process was a huge hassle for the actor, as he now explains. “We were dealing with sensitive material, a rollercoaster ride of emotions that ultimately took its toll on me personally,” he recalls. “The entire process of making the series has helped me to deepen myself. I have better understood what I am capable of, what I can deal with, what triggers me and keeps me trapped in a spiral. Now I’m able to mentally put myself in a state where I’m really happy,” he continues.
Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, the 2002 Academy Award winner for A Beautiful Mind, is the creator of this story, which he says aims to “inspire empathy for those who suffer from trauma associated with mental illness “. Goldsman knows this terrain well, both personally (both parents are child psychologists) and professionally (A Beautiful Mind was based on the life of mathematician John Forbes Nash, who suffered from schizophrenia). “His knowledge and experience on the subject is endless,” Holland notes of Goldsman. “He was a mentor, a confidant, a friend, someone I could always count on, and a great source of information on these issues.” The actor says the series has changed his perspective on trauma and mental health. “I hope it will serve as a learning experience for millions of people around the world because we need to understand what life can be like for these poor people.”
Actor Tom Holland, at one point in the series “The Crowded Room”.
The main character of The Crowded Room is based on a real man, Billy Milligan – again, it’s better not to go into more details as a simple internet search can ruin the viewing experience – but in the series they went with him path of fiction rather than recreating their story. “One of the reasons we did it is because we wanted people to put themselves in Danny’s shoes and understand his actions and why he’s doing them,” explains the actor.
For his first series (he attended Britain’s Wolf Hall in 2015, but this is his first starring role on television), Holland wanted to live the full experience. He accepted the job before the scripts were written and decided to be not only an actor but also an executive producer, overseeing all phases of the process from start to finish. “It was very interesting for me to understand how television works, to move through a ten-hour story instead of two and a half hours. “It was a huge learning curve and I think audiences will appreciate it because it’s a real psychological thriller that’s thought provoking, alert and addictive,” he says.
I’ve spoken to Bayona and maybe there’s something we can do together. Maybe you’ll see me in a film with him in the next few years
“Maybe it would have been easier for me just to play the lead, but I love learning new things. I love this industry and working in it, the creative process and the collaboration between departments, and I wanted to be a part of it in a more hands-on way.” He was even present at the pre-script interviews. “Akiva [Goldsman] At that time I only had one outline for each chapter. We talked about the episodes and the turning points, and then when we had the ten episodes outlined in more detail, he and his writing team put it down on paper. You did a great job. I hate reading scripts, that’s the part of my job I really dislike. But it was fantastic to read those scripts,” recalls the actor.
Amanda Seyfried and Tom Holland, in the sixth episode of the series.
The level of involvement that Tom Holland has shown in this series is surprising. And his answer is also surprising when asked about the funnest part of the whole process: “To be completely honest, I would say the editing process.” I worked with Akiva and the editor every week. We met at least twice a week, going through the episodes and listening to my thoughts. It was a great experience to see these experts doing what they do best. Some episodes have completely changed the order. I loved that they allowed me to be part of the puzzle building process.”
Now Holland takes things more calmly. Personally, he has long been involved with another Hollywood star: Zendaya, his co-star in Spider-Man. Months ago, he decided to interact more occasionally with social networks. He has stated that he has been sober for a year and four months and is involved in associations working with young people’s mental health. Professionally, the writers’ strike crippled the project to launch his fourth Spider-Man film. A brief hiatus for someone who has been at it non-stop since making his film debut with JA Bayona in 2012’s The Impossible. Would you like to work in Spain again? “It may be that something small is cooked, yes. Everything stopped with the writers’ strike, we develop nothing out of solidarity with our striking friends. But I spoke to Bayona and maybe we can do something together. He changed my life, I owe him a lot and I love him, he is one of my dearest friends. So maybe you’ll see me in a movie with him in the next few years,” he says.
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