Tom Holland describes the hardships of “The Crowded Room”; Akiva Goldsman Hope Series Reaches Abuse Survivors – Deadline Screening Series

Tom Holland made his first appearance since the SAG-AFTRA strike during the Deadline Awardsline Screening Series panel for Apple TV+ The busy departure. Akiva Goldsman created the series inspired by the book The ghosts of Billy Milligan, but changed the character from the real Milligan to the fictional Danny Sullivan.

Portraying a person who developed a dissociative identity disorder called multiple personality disorder in the 1970s, when the series was filmed, took its toll on Holland.

“I once asked for a week’s vacation,” Holland said. “I was very lucky to get it because I really needed time to recover before we went into the final part of the show.”

Holland said the 10-episode series was more ambitious than any Marvel film in which he played Spider-Man.

“I got used to three months and I’m done with it, I’m moving on,” Holland said. “I’m also used to playing a superhero. This is something completely different. I’m talking about Thanos and spaceships and all that stuff. You go home and nothing really changes.”

The role of Danny had an impact on Holland’s personal life, he said.

“I dreamed like Danny,” Holland admitted.

The change in his appearance had already surprised him. Holland has a wild ’70s hairstyle that surprised him even in the mirror most mornings.

“Obviously I had this crazy haircut,” Holland said. “You laugh and yes, it’s funny, but I woke up this morning and went to brush my teeth to get ready for work and said, ‘Jesus, wow, oh my God!’

Holland said he took on the task because of its valueHe takes up space may be helpful to viewers in similar situations. Danny developed alternate personalities after being sexually abused as a child.

“The responsibility to tell this story and educate people about what Danny is going through, what a lot of people are going through, was so important,” Holland said.

Goldsman continued his previous interview with Deadline in which he discussed surviving child sexual abuse. He said Danny was a mix of Billy Milligan and Goldsman’s true experience.

“I often tried to weave my own experiences into other people’s stories,” Goldsman said. “It’s safer.”

Goldsman said abuse survivors tend to give each other signs without even realizing it. He hoped that would do the trick The busy departure other survivors could reach.

“Secrets are really toxic,” Goldsman said. “It was a way of saying, ‘Hey, see you. You see us. It’s okay.'”

Goldsman said the process of addressing child sexual abuse in his art is healing.

“We grow, we heal, we endure loss and pain and trauma and try to turn that into grace or meaning, art,” Goldsman said. “That act alone is pretty cathartic.”

Many of the craft teams dropped out The busy departure was also present at the panel discussion to discuss the technical aspects of the show. Screenwriter Jodi Domanic was the first person to suggest to Goldsman that Danny take time to reveal his abuse to psychologist Rya (Amanda Seyfried).

“The first thing I said to him was, ‘As a former clinical psychologist, I don’t think Danny would discuss Adam’s sexual abuse in his first session with Raya,'” Domanic said.

Goldsman admitted he was surprised and even joked about firing Domanic, but realized she was right. This led to structural changes as the show gradually revealed Danny’s abusive and dissociative identity.

Editor Christopher Rand had to rearrange some episodes so that the first few episodes had more time to get to know Danny.

“We got to know and love Danny before we saw this trauma,” Rand said.

Production designer Loren Weeks designed the barn where Danny imagines all his identities. Holland’s brother suggested the barn and Weeks designed a barn that would reflect Danny’s spirit.

“The idea was to ground it in reality so that it felt believable in tighter scenes, but also gave it a sense of infinite scale,” Weeks said.

Weeks came up with the idea for the spotlight Ghosts of Billy Milligan Book. Milligan described how his personalities were in the spotlight when they took over.

“The main aspect of it comes from the book,” Weeks said. “It was a spotlight on a stage.”

Goudsman packed Star Trek: Discovery And Strange new worldVisual effects artist Leslie Chung will be the VFX supervisor for Full room. Chung said that she grew to like the show’s more subtle visual effects, including the fireflies that Danny visualizes.

“I think it was the first time I was able to create a really smooth VFX that reflected the tone of the story,” Chung said.

Casting director Avy Kaufman said everyone she casts, whether real characters or ages, revolves around Holland.

“All the actors had to keep up with Tom,” Kaufman said.

Music supervisor Sue Jacobs was responsible for licensing the Beatles’ “Let It Be”, which is important to Danny and closes the final episode. Jacobs said the Beatles’ estate was convinced by Goldsman’s message, which was expressed in a letter Goldsman wrote to them.

“I think the first thing Akiva said was, ‘I want to do a really positive story about mental health,'” Jacobs said. “They came back and said, ‘How can we not do this? Then we kept adding more apps. At some point it was no longer affordable and they said, “We don’t care, we really want to be part of this history.”