British actor Tom Holland has admitted that he secretly believed some of his own movies were terrible while actively promoting them to cinema audiences.
Speaking on Dish, a podcast hosted by broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and chef Angela Hartnett, the Marvel star disclosed that when asked why people should buy tickets for past projects, he was privately thinking that viewers should avoid the films because they were awful.
The podcast episode was released on July 22 during the press tour for his recent summer films. Holland explained that promoting movies he genuinely admires feels entirely different because he does not feel like he is lying to the public when encouraging people to go to the cinema.
Holland, best known for playing Peter Parker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, drew a sharp contrast between past promotional tours and his work on two recent major releases, The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Unnamed films in filmography
The English actor did not identify any of the specific titles he disliked during the interview, nor did he provide clues that would reveal which productions left him feeling disingenuous.
His career outside of superhero blockbusters includes feature films such as Cherry, Chaos Walking, The Devil All the Time, and Uncharted. However, attributing his criticism to any of those specific productions remains pure speculation since Holland offered no details.
Summer releases and critical reception
Instead, Holland set a clear boundary between those earlier projects and his current summer releases. He described the joint promotional campaign for The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day as a lap of honour, emphasizing that he felt deeply proud of both films.
In the epic drama The Odyssey, Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. In Spider-Man: Brand New Day, he returns to wear the iconic superhero costume for the fourth time in a standalone film.
His enthusiastic support for his recent work comes despite mixed critical reviews for both productions. A review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day published by Spanish daily newspaper LA RAZON highlighted the simplicity of his performance and the intimate moments of the story, while also noting that parts of the plot were predictable.
Learning from co-stars during press tours
Holland's admission highlights the frequent gap between the enthusiastic public statements stars deliver during promotional campaigns and their private evaluations of a finished project. Publicity interviews are traditionally engineered to boost ticket sales regardless of the final movie quality.
During the interview, Holland also recounted how he used the promotional tour for The Odyssey to observe co-star Anne Hathaway during media appearances. He described the Academy Award winning actress as a complete professional and called watching her work a valuable learning experience during a campaign where he did not have to fake excitement.
Despite revealing his private doubts about previous films, Holland left the mystery intact. He did not specify how many times he found himself defending a movie he considered bad, leaving fans to guess which parts of his filmography he regrets.
