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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Jacob Stolworthy

Emmy Rossum, 36, defends playing 27-year-old Tom Holland’s mother in The Crowded Room

Apple TV+

Emmy Rossum has explained why it “makes sense” for her to play Tom Holland’s mum, despite being just nine years older than him.

The actor plays the Spider-Man star’s mother in new Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room, a psychological thriller adapted from Daniel Keyes’ 1981 novel The Minds of Billy Milligan.

Holland plays Danny Sullivan, a man who is arrested for his involvement in a shooting in 1979. Through a series of interviewers with his interrogator, played by Amanda Seyfried, Danny unveils a mystery surrounding his life.

When the casting for the series was announced, it was noted that Rossum, who is 36, would be playing 27-year-old Holland’s mother, with many expressing confusion over the casting.

According to Rossum, however, it “makes sense” for the show.

She told Entertainment Tonight: “Candy’s a super young mom, she’s almost a child in her own right when she becomes pregnant at age 16. You watch as I age from 25 to 35, which is actually younger than I am now.”

Rossum said that she “fell in love with the relationship between mother and son and the closeness and everything that they’re grieving in later episodes”.

In the show, a younger version of Holland is played by Zachary Golinger, and Rossum said she “especially” loved her scenes with him.

Tom Holland in ‘The Crowded Room;
— (Apple TV+)

“Our relationship was so beautiful and so I knew everything that we had that I had lost in the scenes with Tom,” she said.

She described the show as “really shocking”, adding: “It really has a lot of pieces of the puzzle to put together.”

The Crowded Room episodes one to three are available to stream Apple TV+ now. Find The Independent’s review of the series here.

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