The one thing Tom Holland has always hated about acting: “It is not for me”
My first introduction to Tom Holland was seeing him play a teenager who gets caught up in a tsunami in The Impossible, a film I hated so much that I still remember exactly where I was when I watched it. I was sitting in a classroom, trying not to look like a wuss when Naomi Watts’ injured character was shown in a hospital full of other bloodied patients.
That’s probably not what most people associate Holland with the most, though. You probably see him, before anyone else, as Spider-Man. Or maybe even Billy Elliott. Holland’s breakthrough role saw him play the young dancer on the West End, but his tenure on the stage didn’t last that long, because soon he graduated to the silver screen, his sights set on something much bigger.
After several movies, the traumatising The Impossible being one of his first screen roles, he wound up as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, marking his first appearance as the iconic superhero who he’d come to play across various Marvel movies, including Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame. Once you go Marvel, you don’t go back. He was now one of the most recognisable stars in Hollywood.
Yet, in spite of the mega fame he has gained over the years, Holland claims that he hates Hollywood. Now, if he really meant that, then I’m sure he wouldn’t have agreed to play one of the most beloved superheroes of all time for a company that seems to have a monopoly over the entire film industry. And I’m sure he’s not complaining about the money he has made from these films, either.
He told Jay Shetty, “Look, I really am a massive fan of making movies but I really do not like Hollywood, it is not for me.”
It’s a curious statement to make, because if he really felt this way, he could very easily opt for roles in non-Hollywood movies, like many other actors. Instead, he signs himself up for big blockbusters that gross hundreds of millions, even billions. That’s not exactly what I’d choose to do if I claimed to hate Hollywood.
“The business really scares me. I understand that I’m a part of that business, and I enjoy my kind of interactions with it. But that said, I am always looking for ways to kind of remove myself from it, to kind of just live as normal a life as possible,” Holland added.
If you want to be an actor but you don’t want the super fame that comes with it, then your best bet is to pick roles that aren’t as mainstream. It’s as simple as that. Instead, he has given himself to movies like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Avengers: Infinity War, and more recently, the terrible Uncharted, playing a rather unconvincing Nathan Drake from the hit video game series.
It’s understandable why actors like Holland aren’t keen on being thrust into the spotlight, their whole lives, including romances, subject to speculation. I mean, Holland and partner Zendaya haven’t been able to escape rumours surrounding their relationship over the years. When are they getting married? What about a baby? It must be exhausting to deal with.
Yet, you can hardly complain if you’re knowingly getting yourself into contracts binding you to movies that will undoubtedly rake in obscene amounts of money and top the box-office charts. That’s never going to guarantee you a sense of anonymity.
