Actor Tom Holland is opening up about how a recent project led to his decision to take a break from drinking.
In a interview with EW, Holland revealed he has been sober for over a year after filming the upcoming Apple TV+ crime thriller, "The Crowded Room."
The "Spider-Man" star plays a man who is arrested in summer 1979 due to his involvement in a shooting at Rockefeller Center. It is based on Billy Milligan, who was diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder.
Holland said the role took a toll.
"I'm no stranger to the physical aspects of the job doing the whole action-movie thing," he told the publication. "But the mental aspect, it really beat me up and it took a long time for me to recover afterwards, to sort of get back to reality."
Holland said the role forced him to deal with the intricacies of the human mind and how we deal with trauma.
"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."
The project changed Holland's perspective on caring for his own mental health and influenced his choice to become sober. The actor, who is also an executive producer on "The Crowded Room," hopes the series will encourage viewers to "have more respect and more sympathy for people who are going through mental health issues."
"I hope that people will feel educated about the powers of mental health, the struggles, [and] our incredible abilities to survive," he said.
"The Crowded Room" premieres on June 9 on Apple TV+.
