Tom Holland is a few more months away from the end of the one-year hiatus most people didn’t know he started last year. Unfortunately for him he’s still technically working: He’s been doing press for The Crowded Room, his new Apple TV+ limited series. At least he’s been having fun. For one thing, he revealed which performance garners him the most compliments, and it ain’t Spider-Man.
“It is an interesting one,” Holland told The Hollywood Reporter (in a bit teased out by Entertainment Weekly). “Because I’ve really worked hard in my career and I’ve really been calculated in deciding what it is I do and when I do it. And for all the movies that I’m incredibly proud of, the Lip Sync Battle is what I get the most compliments for.”
Holland was referring to his 2017 apperance on the show, in which he squared off against his real-life paramour Zendaya. Zendaya had lip-synced to “Tyrone” and “24k Magic.” Then Holland came out. He started by faking it to “Singin’ in the Rain,” only to toss off his jacket, revealing a bustier and fishnet stockings. He proceeded to do a killer dance to Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” with an umbrella.
“I’m proud of it,” Holland said of the performance. “I like that it left a lasting impact. It was an amazing time. My life was changing before my eyes. Spider-Man was coming out. I was on the up. I was getting offers and turning them down for the first time, which was really crazy… I was finally at that stage where I could say, ‘Can I bring my friends?’ And they’d say, ‘Yeah.’”
Holland says he wasn’t making a statement about toxic masculinity, though he also wasn’t worried about being seen as effeminate by macho men.
“I don’t give a f*ck,” he said. “I’ve grown up in the most non-toxic-masculine environment possible. I didn’t realize what I was doing was so forward-thinking. I was just like, ‘Yeah, f*ck it, I’ll put some fishnets on and dance in the rain. That’ll be really fun. I don’t care.’”
You can watch Holland’s beloved performance in the video above.