Tom Holland Reveals He Is Taking A Break From Acting
Tom Holland is going to put his feet up.
This article is more than 2 years old
Tom Holland is hanging up his webshooters and shelving his scripts, at least for the time being. In a new interview, the actor reveals that he’ll soon be taking a break from acting. He’s got one more thing to shoot, he says, and then he’s going on sabbatical.
In a video posted by CinePOP, Tom Holland is asked whether or not he’s going to be suiting up as Spider-Man any time soon, or if he’s taking a break. It isn’t clear if by “a break,” the interviewer was referring to a break from Spider-Man or just an overall break from acting but, either way, Holland confirms the latter. The actor responded, “I am going back to shoot a TV show for Apple, which I’m really excited about… But I can confidently say that after I finish that TV show, I will be taking a break.” You can watch the interview below.
This isn’t a complete surprise. During the promotional lead-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom Holland made comments to the effect that he needed a break from the big screen. Speaking to Sky News, Holland said, “I started acting when I was 11 and I haven’t done anything else, so I’d like to go and do other things.” He’s also talked plainly about considering saying goodbye to his Spider-Man role for good, musing, “there’s part of me that feels like it’s the perfect time to jump off the building and swing off into the sunset and let the next lucky young kid come in to don the suit.”
He has a point. Starting with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland has starred as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in six films. Neither of his predecessors — Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield — got nearly as much mileage out of the role, and both of their tenures ended on low notes. No Way Home, on the other hand, is not only swinging past box office records, but impressed audiences so much that some fans — including celebrities — are still angry it was passed over by the Oscars for Best Picture consideration. If Holland were to bow out now, it would definitely be at a high point.
The project Tom Holland says he’s shooting before his acting break is the seasonal anthology series The Crowded Room from Akiva Goldsman, the acclaimed writer who snagged an Oscar for Best Screenplay Adapation in 2001 for A Beautiful Mind. According to Deadline, The Crowded Room will feeature stories based on real life, about people who have wrestled with mental illness. Holland will be playing Billy Milligan, the first person to ever be acquitted of a crime because of his diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder.
There is at least one announced project that may be in jeopardy because of Tom Holland’s break. In December, a report emerged that Holland was starring in an upcoming biopic about the singing and dancing legend Fred Astaire. However, in his new interview Holland says he’s putting his feet up as soon as he’s done filming The Crowded Room. Perhaps the report about the biopic was premature, or maybe the studio is willing to wait while Holland hitchhikes or goes on a backpacking tour of Europe or whatever it is he’ll be doing during his break.
