The last time we checked in on Tom Holland, he said he was taking a year off from acting. The reason he gave for his hiatus was that filming the Apple TV+ show The Crowded Room “broke him.” I predicted then, before there were many reviews, that the show sounded like a dud and that Tom was miscast based on the trailer. Now that more reviews are in, my suspicions were correct. It has a 48% on Metacritic and the consensus is that it tries to withhold a “twist” that you can see coming if you just do a rudimentary Google about the project, or just read the context that every news outlet publishes alongside descriptions of the show. It’s also apparently quite slow. Anyway, Tom is still promoting The Crowded Room and appeared in a video on the Unilad YouTube channel. I think Unilad is kind of similar to Buzzfeed? I don’t know it that well. He talked about the negative reviews and how he’s used to disappointment because of his football (soccer) allegiances. He also mentioned what he hopes people get out of watching the show and advocated for mental health awareness.
Tom Holland is hopeful his TV miniseries “The Crowded Room” will touch fans despite negative reviews.
The 27-year-old actor appeared on Unilad’s “Get a Job” series Friday where he addressed the Apple TV+ psychological thriller, which he starred in and executive produced.
“It’s no secret that my show has been so horribly reviewed,” he said.
Holland’s character Danny Sullivan in the series, based on the 1981 novel “The Minds of Billy Milligan,” is arrested after a shooting at Rockefeller Center in 1979.
Indie Wire graded the show a C-, Variety called it “empty” and CNN said the series yielded “pretty mediocre-to-bad results.” The Rotten Tomatoes score at publish is 31%.
Holland said on Unilad that he learned how to be “very resilient” as a result of being a Tottenham Hotspur fan. The soccer team has never won the Premiere League.
The actor explained that because he learned resilience, he’s far more concerned with what viewers learn from watching “The Crowded Room” over how it stacks up in reviews.
“I think that the message of the show, which can speak to so many different issues is that asking for help should be something that we as a society celebrate. It’s an act of bravery,” he said.
The joke about Tottenham Hotspur was cute, but he also completely brings up how horribly reviewed his show is, when the interviewer is just asking him about football. Perhaps they planned that segue ahead of time but if they didn’t, Tom is out here just telling people “my new show was reviewed horribly!” That…probably doesn’t make people want to watch it. Not sure how effective that is as promo. Nevertheless I hope Tom doesn’t let the bad reviews get to him. It’s not all on him that the show wasn’t a hit. I think he really was just miscast and that the script had some problems. I do hope, however, that he chooses his next project wisely, and picks something that plays to his strengths. I’m not saying he has to always be a loveable goofball in the mold of Peter Parker but his character has to have a certain level of lightness and charm. He’d be so great in a romcom if we still had those.
Also in that video, Tom reveals (with a distinctively proud look) that he fixed Zendaya’s door once, early in their relationship. He says she was impressed, which is quite sweet. Tom is a trained carpenter, which is very useful. I’m wondering what exactly he fixed. Did he tighten up the hinges? Did he have to change out the door sweep? Swap out a strike plate? Anyway it’s just a cute little story. I see why people are obsessed with them as a couple, they’re very adorable.
photos credit: Apple Press and Getty
I think he’s dry talented, but I agree he needs to choose his projects carefully.
If it ever happens, he should be a great Fred Astaire.
A Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers biopic starring Jamie Bell (another Billy Elliot) and Margaret Qualley is in the works.
There are actually two Fred Astaire projects in the works: One starring Jamie Bell and one starring Tom.
those links to the Pepsi ad pull, Sandra Bullock’s new baby, Reese’s drunken rant, and Paris’ prison sentence were a trip down memory lane (or some weird time warp)
dlisted is closing down. It’s a tribute.
It is good he is taking a break and recharging, attended Beyoncé’s concert in Poland with his girlfriend.
I really think he is a great actor, but ugh this show didn’t even look good. I can’t even remember what it is about. (aside–why are so many of the apple shows just not that good? I mean, there ARE some good ones but there are some REALLY not good ones, too, which outnumber the good, IMO). I wonder if his performance is why… Carina mentioned he was miscast
Agreed with the above that he should make a great astaire (although, I think I heard that there is another fred astaire movie with the guy who was in the ballet kid movie years ago [sorry blanking on the name…. billy something?], and so he’s probably a better dancer, but tom is cuter, IMO!)
Also, I love zendaya and I think they are a cute couple, but I doubt they’ll be together forever, they’re too young! and she’s AMAZING and can probably do better
I don’t want to spoil so I’ll just say that it starts to become clear what the show is about in episode 4. I’m really enjoying it (and I love his hair!)
Apple seems to be taking on the “quality” projects. So, brilliant when they work, infuriating when they don’t. Despite what people think, Oscar bait is very hit or miss. Part of the reason studios have really cut back on making these sorts of movies. They also seem to know when they have a dud and don’t promote them.
I don’t know if they’ll be together forever, but they’re 27 years old. That is not that young anymore.
As for his show, he is excellent in it, even if the show is a bit of a mess and slow. Even so, I’m enjoying it.
I agree that they’re absolutely old enough to decide to be together forever; but still very much young enough to not have to worry about that if they don’t want to.
A guy that can dance and is also a trained carpenter. I mean yeah, yes, please.
Strike plate! That’s the phrase! I’m having some work done on my house including getting a storm door installed in the front. It’s in but doesn’t shut right, i I was trying to tell the head guy, and I was like “the thing on the trim, you know, where the bolt goes? It looks like it’s not in the right place”. Strike plate, that’s what it is.
Oh, back to the post – I like Tom, think he’s got some acting chops and he certainly can move well, has charisma and is willing to work hard. So I think he’ll be fine. But both he and Apple TV should choose their next projects carefully.
This project just never appealed to me, maybe because at this point I’m all out of interest in yet another story of a white dude who causes harm to others because of his issues (the Evan Peters /Ryan Murphy thing, the various true crime inspired shows, etc etc)
Most of them that I’ve seen wind up fetishizing the dysfunction, violence in a way that overshadows any “message” that might be buried in there somewhere. I’m tired of exploring that stuff and think there are other stories out there to be told.
Caveat- I’ve not seen this one. It could be completely different. I’m just going by the press, promos I’ve seen. And raising awareness about mental illness is good if it moves people to push for better access to treatment, support services, etc.
I really like him, but I couldn’t get through the first episode. I think part of the problem is that he plays both the younger and older versions of the character, and even though there’s not a huge time gap, it seems weird.
I don’t mind the time jumps with him, but it bugs me with Emmy Rossum. I wish they’d shown her first with him as a young child so when she’s (only slightly) aged up to be his insanely young mom of a teen it makes more sense. Otherwise, it’s just the weird Hollywood thing of insanely young mom out of context.
In a bid for an Oscar, no doubt, he said it was so grueling to make this poorly reviewed movie that he has to take a year off. He’s good in boyish roles. Don’t EVER want to see him as Fred Astaire. Please no.
It is a tv show, so no Oscar bait.
I think the people here dissing Tom have never seen him do Umbrella.
I was meh about him till I watched that over and over
That video only proves that he can dance and so? It doesn’t say anything about his acting talent (or lack thereof). Try harder.
Louise: you do realize he’s been been acclaimed for his acting (borne out by his BAFTA in 2017) and his box office outcomes?