Tom Holland on his ‘emotional’ and ‘freeing’ performance in the film ‘Cherry’

In the new movie Cherry, Tom Holland breaks from his clean Peter Parker persona to play a drug-addicted, bank-robbing war veteran, who goes by the name Cherry.

Holland, his co-star Ciara Bravo, and directors Joe and Anthony Russo (who directed Holland in several Avengers films) recently spoke with Yahoo Entertainment about the difficulty shooting this movie.

"When it came to the emotional aspects of making this film, there were no easy days," Holland said. "Especially when we were going through the dope life portion of the film."

Compared to Spider-Man, Holland called this performance "very freeing."

"There was no limit to how far we could go when we were bringing these characters to life," he said.

Watch more from Holland and others in the video interview above.

Video Transcript

- Hello?

- Yeah, baby. I'm here.

- You're going to make this, OK? I know that you're going to make it through this.

KEVIN POLOWY: "Cherry" can be a tough film to watch. You're dealing with the brutalities of war, with PTSD, with intense heroin addiction. How tough emotionally was this one for the both of you guys to make?

TOM HOLLAND: From the physical standpoint, there was some days where it was easier and some days where it was harder, but when it came to the emotional aspect of making this film, there were no easy days. There were no light days, especially when we were going through the dope life portion of the film. It required Ciara and I to kind of push ourselves to emotional places that I didn't really know I had in me at times. And I remember doing a few scenes and sort of them calling and and being like, wow. I didn't-- I didn't know that was in me.

CIARA BRAVO: I think it's also important to note that there is an aspect of hope in this film, and keeping that in mind while shooting, I found, was really helpful to keep my head above water and make sure that I can continue to tread as long as I needed to keep going forward.

TOM HOLLAND: We were lucky that we had each other because we were kind of a team, and we would support each other through the harder days. And the Russo brothers were two of the most caring people I've ever worked with and for. And we were very lucky that we had their whole support system. The whole crew was there to help us, and they made what would have been an impossible film possible.

KEVIN POLOWY: Tom Holland has been killing it since he was, like, five years old or however old he was in "The Impossible." Older I think. Obviously, you guys have had experience with him as part of a wider ensemble in the MCU. What did you see from him here that you had never seen before?

JOE RUSSO: Well, it was his level of commitment to the role. I mean, it's very difficult to be a movie star. It requires a lot of focus and commitment, and you have to deliver every time out because if you stop delivering, it can damage your brand or the way that people perceive you.

One thing I think we all learned from Robert Downey on the Marvel films was the level of commitment and the team required around Robert to keep him working at the top of his game every time out, and Tom adopted a lot of those techniques. He works with incredible hair and makeup who can help him transform. He works with an acting coach that challenges him on a daily basis, a dialect coach.

I mean, he literally sounded like our cousin. He got the Cleveland accent down so authentically. I used to hear his voice on set and sort of look around, and I'm thinking our cousin had come by to visit us. This is a kid that, I think, from a very young age is as committed as the most experienced movie star in the world of Robert Downey. And that impressed us, and that was something new.

ANTHONY RUSSO: Really, what was important to us on this movie is that we wanted to-- the entire film to be highly subjective to the lead character, to Tom Holland's character.

KEVIN POLOWY: How refreshing was that for you to to play a character who does feel so antithetical to a pretty squeaky clean character like Peter Parker, someone you've spent so much time playing in recent years.

TOM HOLLAND: It's very freeing, you know, to be able to play a character with no boundaries. There was no limit to how far we could go when we were bringing these characters to life. Obviously, when you're making a Spider-Man film, there is an audience that you have to cater to, and there's only so far that you can push these characters into deeper and darker places. You have to be quite strategic in where you would push yourself and where you would hold back, but as an actor, for me, it was a real dream come true.

KEVIN POLOWY: Ciara, you're so good in this film throughout the entirety, but there's one particular moment that I wanted to ask you about that still sticks out. We can call it your Oscar reel moment-- that's what they always say in the business, right-- where you are yelling at Tom in the bathroom and get to scream F you into his face, like, at the top of your lungs. What comes back from that day? What can you tell us about filming that sequence?

CIARA BRAVO: It's so-- that's so interesting trying to go back there and think about those moments, but I will say being given permission to scream in that way was one of the most therapeutic moments I think I experienced on that set. Because we are going to such deep places, you have a tendency to bottle things up when you're filming, to sort of try to contain them so that they don't take over your life. So being given the chance to scream in the face of one of the kindest people I've ever met was therapeutic.

TOM HOLLAND: I'm glad it was therapeutic for you.

CIARA BRAVO: Yeah, how was it for you? Traumatizing?

TOM HOLLAND: I don't think my hearing will ever be the same. I'm also lying in a bath, so the screaming is--

CIARA BRAVO: Echoing.

TOM HOLLAND: --like, echoing off the bath. Yeah, I remember the first take--

CIARA BRAVO: At least one of us got something out of it.

TOM HOLLAND: --like, oh. Yeah, it was-- it's an amazing scene.