Note: The following interview was conducted prior to SAG-AFTRA joining the WGA on strike.
“The Crowded Room” has come and gone, marking a huge shift for series star Tom Holland (at least from the MCU, where many fans were introduced to his talents). And with it came the daunting task of playing multiple characters — but also sharing those characters with other actors. Fortunately, they worked out a system.
The whole truth of Danny Sullivan’s (Holland) life was officially revealed in Episode 7 of “The Crowded Room,” explaining exactly what Jack (Jason Isaacs) meant in Episode 6 when he mentioned “us.” It turns out, most of the characters we’d met up to that point were all Danny’s alters, each taking turns driving his life when they felt he needed them most.
The finale revealed that Jack, Yitzhak, Ariana, Mike and Johnny were all alters. Of course, through most of the series, those characters were played by actors who aren’t Tom Holland. Only in a handful of scenes did we see those personalities actually manifest in Danny’s body. So, Holland explained to TheWrap, there was a balancing act of when he drew from his co-stars, and when they pulled from him.
“I think it was a bit of both. I wanted them to have their own creative freedom to make decisions as actors as you would normally with any role,” Holland said. “But then again, there were times where I would ask them to elevate certain things or push certain things further, especially when it came to things like physicality.”
“I know that with Lior (Raz, who playes Yitzhak), his physicality, that was something that really, really blossomed throughout the show,” he continued. “And I loved it, because it gave me so much to kind of lean into. And then with Sam (Vartholomeos) bringing Mike to life. I just wanted him to be the perfect high school kid, and to just do whatever he could to embody that. And he did that, in such a fantastic way.”
Holland was particularly fond of shooting with Sasha Lane, who played Ariana, in the club as she let loose.
“With Sasha, obviously, we have that wonderful sequence in the club, where we’re dancing, and shooting that together was amazing, was such a pleasure,” he said. “So you know, it was a little bit of both! It was them doing their own thing, and then it was me asking for little specifics to be heightened or, you know, turned down.”
You can watch TheWrap’s full interview with Tom Holland in the video above.
All episodes of “The Crowded Room” are now streaming on Apple TV+.
