Why Filming The Crowded Room Was Incredibly Personal For Tom Holland
Occasionally, actors take on a role that gets its hooks in them and doesn't completely untether once shooting is over. It's happened to some of the best performers on the planet, and it apparently happened to Tom Holland while playing Danny Sullivan in the upcoming Apple TV+ crime miniseries "The Crowded Room."
If that title sounds familiar, it's because the project has been kicking around since the early 1990s. Based on Daniel Keyes' nonfiction book "The Minds of Billy Milligan," which details the criminal exploits of a serial rapist afflicted with dissociative identity disorder, the project was nearly James Cameron's follow-up to "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." John Cusack was originally cast in the lead, and Cameron was preparing to shoot before a series of lawsuits (some filed by Milligan himself) derailed the production.
Akiva Goldsman revived the project as a miniseries in 2021 but departed from Milligan's dark story to tell a tale based in part on the Academy Award-winning screenwriter's own life. We'll find out how this works when the series premieres on June 9, but one thing's for sure: playing the Milligan-inspired Danny Sullivan took a toll on Holland.
The perils of sinking a tad too deep into a character
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Holland disclosed that the character caused a bit of a psychological spin-out. Per Holland:
"I was seeing myself in [the character], but in my personal life. 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."
Holland emerged from the experience with an altered perspective on his own mental health. The time he spent with psychiatrists alerted him to stressors in his life, like — and I think we all can relate here — social media. He's also been sober for over a year, so it sounds like, if nothing else, the ordeal of being Danny Sullivan ultimately benefited Holland. After viewing the show, Holland told EW he hopes people "will feel educated about the powers of mental health, the struggles, [and] our incredible abilities to survive."
Though he's been busy making blockbusters over the seven years, Holland has proven to be a tremendously resourceful actor in films like James Gray's "The Lost City of Z" and Antonio Campos' "The Devil All the Time." We're just scraping the surface of what this young man can do, and it sounds like "The Crowded Room" could be an explosive showcase of his talents.