A respected New York artist opened up on the set of Apple TV+ psychological thriller The Crowded Room about being Tom Holland’s hand double – and teaching the star how to draw.
Natalie Frank, 43, a Fulbright Scholar and Yale and Columbia graduate, boasts work in world-renowned collections including the Whitney, the Brooklyn Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago – while she has exhibited internationally at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the London Museum of Design and the Yale University Art Gallery, among others, among dozens of other prestigious venues.
When mega producer Alexandra Milchen emailed her in February 2022 to ask if she’d be interested in working on an unknown Apple TV+ project, Natalie didn’t think twice.
“I called her right away,” she told in an exclusive interview.
Tom Holland, 27, reached out to artist Natalie Frank, 43, for on-camera drawing coaching for the role of troubled artist Danny in the Apple TV+ miniseries The Crowded Room
Natalie spent two days on set filming character sequences as Tom’s hand double
Tom’s character Danny has a crush on Annabelle, played by Emma Laird
Natalie was impressed with Tom’s ability to “literally” copy her movements to create resized shots of his character making drawings. Shown are Tom’s hands
While crouching in an abandoned house, Danny meets a new alternate personality: party girl Ariana
Amanda Seyfriend plays Rya, a psychologist trying to get to the bottom of Danny’s mental state
At one point in the show, Rya discovers Danny’s sketchbook and realizes that Ariana’s portrait matches the description of Danny’s accomplice in the shooting
Danny’s sketchbook eventually helps Rya solve the mystery of Danny’s delusional behavior
The character of Danny tends to create artwork that depicts those closest to him – such as his crush on Annabelle. Pictured here is Amanda’s character Rya looking at his notebook
Natalie has exhibited work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the London Museum of Design, the Yale University Art Gallery and countless other international venues
The acclaimed New York-based artist is a graduate of Yale and Columbia
As Milchen dictated for her, the team that produced The Crowded Room wanted to draw from Natalie’s extensive oeuvre—which spans paintings, drawings, performance design, and book illustrations over the past two decades—and place it in the show’s sets.
Natalie was also commissioned to create dozens of original drawings to represent the artwork of Tom’s character, Danny.
In doing so, she also acted as Tom’s hand double, eventually spending two days on set filming two character sequences as his character.
The miniseries, which premiered June 9 and concludes July 28, is about a socially isolated young man and aspiring artist named Danny, played by Tom, 27.
The first of the series’ ten episodes begins with Danny being arrested after committing a shooting at Rockefeller Center.
While awaiting trial, Danny finds himself undergoing an extended interrogation conducted by a psychologist named Rya, played by Amanda Seyfried.
When Rya starts questioning Danny about his background and recent past, she discovers that he spends much of his time with a rather odd group, supposedly various friends of his. And everyone seems to have a habit of showing up whenever Danny is in an emotionally difficult situation.
Eventually, Rya finds out that Danny has multiple personality disorder. His various alternate roles – or alters – regularly carry out elaborate schemes designed with the intention of “protecting” him and his feelings, but are in fact spinning his life off the hook.
Danny’s imaginary twin, Adam, turns his first age when Danny is sexually abused by his stepfather
“The portraits I do speak about what it means to be a person,” Natalie described her work, reflecting on why she was suited for the show
Natalie recalled her first day on set when she had to climb over a stone wall and draw
Natalie explained that the team digitally “undid” her finished drawings so it appeared as if she was completing them while pretending to be Danny on camera
In flashbacks, viewers discover that Danny is an avid artist who enjoys drawing portraits of those he loves.
The exhibition features examples of Natalie’s work – including older pieces as well as original drawings and paintings she made specifically for the exhibition – on the walls of Danny’s house and prison cell in a salon style.
Older works featured in the episodes include selections from Natalie’s recent art books: including The Wounded Storyteller (Yale University Press, 2023), which features her illustrations of five gothic horror tales by German novelist ETA Hoffman; and The Island of Happiness (Princeton University Press, 2021), which features Natalie’s interpretations of Madame D’Aulnoy’s 17th-century French fairy tales.
Also on display are excerpts from the artist’s critically acclaimed Grimm Fairy Tales drawings, as well as several related images she created for a 2019 Ballet Austin production entitled Grimm Fairy Tales, inspired by the 2014 original series.
“I think a lot of my work revolves around dark interiority and psychological narratives that are created to express different sides of myself and the subjects I want to explore,” Natalie reflected on why her aesthetic felt appropriate to represent Danny’s art, given that he is an artist with multiple personality disorder.
“The portraits I make are about what it means to be a person.” And I think it is [Danny’s] Drawing helped him. It created a world in which he could place himself in a kind of shifting psychological landscape.”
One of Danny’s personalities is revealing high school student Mike
Jonny’s personality represents Danny’s mischievous side
Yitzak Safdie is an extremely tough alternate personality who takes the reins whenever Danny is physically threatened
Emmy Rossum plays Danny’s mother, Candy
For the production design, Natalie created portraits of more than half a dozen characters based on composites of each actor. This includes illustrations of Danny’s mother Candy (Emmy Rossum) and his lover Annabelle (Emma Laird).
She also provided paper renderings of Danny’s characters, which appear as the show begins as if they were his real life companions.
Among them: Ariana, played by Sasha Lane – a troubled party girl who embarks on sexual adventures for Danny; Yitzak Safdie played by Lior Raz – an extremely tough guy who takes the reins when Danny is physically threatened; and a free-spirited high schooler named Mike, played by Sam Vartholomeos.
As a child, Danny also has an imaginary twin brother named Adam (Zachary Golinger plays both children). Adam then reaches his first age when his stepfather begins to sexually abuse him – an event which the series claims is the main cause of the development of his multiple personalities.
For another of her drawings for the exhibition, Natalie depicted the twins side by side.
Jonny, who embodies Danny’s mischievous yet imaginative side, is primarily played by aspiring actor Levon Hawke – son of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke. When Natalie drew Levon and later met him, she mentioned that he seemed “such a star” to her.
The exhibition features Natalie’s work scattered around the walls of Danny’s house
Her work is also the focus of a scene in which Danny’s crush Annabelle expresses her amazement at his artistic acumen
Natalie’s work also shows up in Danny’s prison cell
The works featured in the sets throughout the exhibition represent a selection from the last 20 years of Natalie’s work – as well as Natalie’s original contributions to the production
About a month after Milchen’s introductory email, Natalie was in an Uber en route to the undisclosed location where filming was taking place.
“I didn’t know where I wanted to go. We drove about an hour and a half. “We ended up in an elementary school,” she recalls.
There, she was greeted with her own trailer, which contained a pair of corduroy pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt that “was a duplicate of what Tom Holland wore in his role as Danny.”
“Since he has very slim hips, the pants could not be closed,” said Natalie, laughing.
Next, she met up with a makeup artist who travels “exclusively” with Tom.
“She sat me in the chair, looked at my hands and then said, ‘Well, we have to do the knuckles because Tom has very pink knuckles.’
“She gave me a manicure and put some foundation on my hands.” Then, when Tom and I were together, she rubbed some of my gouache in a similar color and pattern onto both of our hands…to make it look like the same hand, which I loved.”
After Natalie took care of her wardrobe and makeup, she was guided to filming the first drawing sequence.
“I was told to stand astride a stone wall and given drawing materials.” They took my drawings with them [of the cast] and digitally undone to achieve various levels of finishing.
“And then, shot after shot, with cameras hovering overhead – and probably 60 people watching – in pants that wouldn’t button, I was drawing astride the stone wall,” she recalled of the hubbub on set.
When Natalie first arrived on set, she found that she had her own trailer
Inside the trailer was a t-shirt and pants that mimicked Tom’s wardrobe for Danny – though Natalie noticed the pants didn’t quite fit her
She also taught Tom how to act as if he were in the process of making a drawing or painting for shots that required him to show his head and hands.
“What was really incredible, I thought, was that he would watch me draw and then – very casually – sit in the chair and literally mimic my gestures.” I mean, too [every] tiny [detail] – The way I tapped the glass with the brush, the way I wiped it on the paper towel before I started.
“He’s a remarkable actor. And [in real time] “He really learned how to draw – or how to act like you’re drawing,” she gushed about the experience working with Tom.
“He asked a lot of questions about how to draw, how to layer the materials, what the different materials do, how I approached drawing and how I started drawing,” she continued. “And he was lovely. Like a very good listener. Again, he was very perceptive in the way he viewed, perceived and translated drawings.”
An unforeseen incident sparked a moment of collective panic on set when Natalie first began drawing for the camera – but the team was horrified to discover that unlike Tom, she is left-handed.
When the showrunners pointed out the possible faux pas, Natalie recalled, “The cameraman hovered over me and I pulled my left hand out, and I think it was like I was gasping for air.”
“And there was a very quick decision that Tom was going to be left-handed then.”
Could she have pretended to be right-handed for the sake of the shot? “Not if they wanted good art, that wouldn’t happen!” To get a few minutes of drawing on film took about an hour of drawing on set. So it really had to be real.’
In addition, only that day Natalie was informed that she would be filmed.
“I’m glad they didn’t tell me before they brought me on set that I was going to draw on the film because I had no idea…I probably would have been a lot more nervous,” she admitted.
But it didn’t take long for her to realize how fast she had to go in order to stick to the shooting schedule. “You’re very aware that time is so precious, and the pace is fast and … there’s a couple hundred people on set all waiting for you,” she said.
“And so did the director Kornél [Mundruczó] screamed, “Draw this,” “Draw that,” “Draw faster,” “Make it more interesting!” Natalie recalled.
When asked how she was coping with all the pressure on the spot, Natalie summed it up: “Well, I just remembered Tom Holland is the star and I’m an employee.”
“And I just have to be as fast as possible!”
To see more of Natalie Frank’s work, check out her Instagram here.