Tom Holland Says ‘The Crowded Room’ Was ‘So Horribly Reviewed,’ but He’s Still Promoting It Because He’s ‘Very Resilient’
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Tom Holland isn’t letting bad reviews get in the way of promoting his critically-maligned Apple TV+ thriller series “The Crowded Room.” During a recent video interview with Unilad, Holland compared being in “The Crowded Room” to being a die-hard fan of England’s Tottenham Hotspur soccer team. In both cases, the Spider-Man actor has learned to be “very resilient.” Tottenham Hotspur has never won the Premiere League.
“I think being a Tottenham fan is somewhat like being in ‘The Crowded Room.’ It has taught me resilience,” Holland said. “Tottenham has never won anything and supporting them is incredibly difficult. It’s no secret my show has been so horribly reviewed, but I’m here today to promote the show and I’m still here. I’m very resilient. It’s a good quality.”
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In “The Crowded Room,” Holland plays a young man who is arrested in summer 1979 due to his involvement in a shooting at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Critics have mostly eviscerated the series, with Variety television critic Alison Herman calling it “unfortunately empty” in her review. The show currently has a 31% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Earlier this month on “Live With Kelly and Mark,” Holland thanked his fans for supporting the show despite critics hating it.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to my fans, and the people that have seen the show because we’re at 94% [user rating] on Rotten Tomatoes,” Holland said at the time. “I feel so grateful that I have a wonderful community of people that support me and are there for me, so I’m honored and really excited for the rest of the show to come out.”
Speaking to Unilad, Holland continued to overcome the bad reviews for “The Crowded Room” by focusing on what he views as the importance of the show.
“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,” Holland said. “Standing up and asking for help is not something you should be ashamed of, and I hope that this show can represent that in a truthful and authentic, and most importantly, sensitive way.”
Holland continued, “If we can somehow make people feel empowered by saying, ‘I’m not feeling good, I really need some help,’ then we’ve done what we set out to do. I think it carries a really important message and I think ultimately it’s going to be educational and entertaining.”
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly last month, Holland revealed that working on “The Crowded Room” led to a “bit of a meltdown” in his personal life. He decided to take a year off from acting due to the intensity of the shoot. He’s already eight months into that acting break.
“The Crowded Room” is now available to stream on Apple TV+.
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