Tom Holland has a confession: not every film he has made is good, and selling the ones that aren't is the hardest part of the job.

Speaking on the Dish Podcast, Holland recalled moments on press tours when he was asked why audiences should see a particular film. His internal answer, he said, was blunt: "You shouldn't, because it's shit." He did not name the titles in question (The Hollywood Reporter).

The contrast he drew was with his current slate. Holland said he has been "absolutely loving" the press tours for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, describing both as "a bit of a victory lap" because he is proud of them. When a film genuinely works, he said, promotion is easy — he is not lying when he tells people they should go and see it (The Hollywood Reporter).

It is not the first time Holland has been candid about the awkward side of publicity. In 2023, he told Variety that his Apple TV+ series The Crowded Room was "so horribly reviewed" but that he promoted it anyway because he is "very resilient" (Variety).

The two projects Holland is currently championing sit at very different stages. The Odyssey, directed by Nolan and based on Homer's ancient Greek poem, had grossed over $600 million globally by its second weekend. Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Odysseus (The Hollywood Reporter).

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth instalment in Holland's Spider-Man series, reunites him onscreen with Zendaya and Jacob Batalon. It is scheduled for release on July 31. Holland described the film as "grittier, more emotional" in a July 2026 Reuters interview (Reuters; The Hollywood Reporter).

Getting both films made required some juggling. When Nolan first offered Holland a role in The Odyssey, the production dates clashed exactly with those of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Holland called Sony to ask for a delay on the Spider-Man shoot so he could take the Nolan part — and Sony agreed (GQ; Variety).

Holland's investment in Brand New Day has extended beyond the calendar. He and Zendaya both spoke up on set when a scene was not working, prompting the director to send the crew home so it could be rewritten (Variety). Holland also revealed he was the one who told Zendaya she had been cast in The Odyssey, surprising her with the news during a conversation captured on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in July (Facebook / Fallon Tonight).

For an actor whose name has been attached to blockbuster franchises since his early twenties, Holland's honesty about the duds lands precisely because he is not hiding behind them. He named no films, and he drew the line clearly: the bad ones were hard to sell, the good ones are a joy to talk about, and the difference is whether you mean what you are saying.