Tom Holland Interview: Actor on New Films ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘The Odyssey’

With two huge movies out this year, Tom Holland will be popping up in many places across the globe in 2026. On Wednesday morning, the actor appeared in one of the more unlikely spots — atop a parking garage at the Sherman Oaks Galleria — but for good reason.

His non-alcoholic beer brand, BERO, presented its second annual Padel Classic, an invite-only tournament featuring talent across sports, entertainment and culture. Simu Liu, Steve Aoki, Rainn Wilson, Jay Shetty and Diplo were there, as was Holland’s other half, Zendaya, who showed up to support BERO and his tourney. “BERO’s whole message is community and reaching out to people, friendship and hanging out with one another,” Holland explained to The Hollywood Reporter before the first ball was tossed in the air. “Padel, for me, is one of my favorite sports. I love playing it with my family. I love the social element of it. People who aren’t maybe as good at tennis can have a good go at Padel. I’m just really happy to be here today to celebrate BERO and meet some really fun people.”

Before he did so, Holland spent 10 minutes with THR talking about his BERO brand, how it’s impacted his sobriety and how he’s readying himself for the release of two huge movies back-to-back this summer.

Speaking of celebration, I hear that BERO has launched a new bottle?

I love the new bottle. When we first launched the company and talked about designing the cans and other details, I was always really hungry to get a glass bottle out there. For logistical reasons that are way beyond my kind of skillset, it was much harder than we had once anticipated. To have the bottles here today is so exciting. Neha Soi, our chief of operations, is an absolute wizard. She’s incredible. The fact that she managed to pull this off within the timeframe she was given is really incredible.

The bottle design is sleek and minimalist. Very cool. Is that your input?

My biggest involvement in the company is marketing and branding. I really wanted to create something that didn’t scream non-alc. With a lot of the non-alc companies, their bottles are blue and it’s their way of signifying that it is a non-alcoholic beer. As someone who doesn’t drink, I found that spotlight in a bar sometimes a little overwhelming. My plan for BERO was to create something that people can drink in a bar with all their mates, who might be drinking full-strength beers, and not be made to feel like they are standing out for the wrong reasons.

How has having your own brand influenced your own sobriety journey?

It’s been incredibly helpful. There’s definitely a two bird, one stone situation here, which is that I love the product, I love the brand, and I love the people I get to work with. But it also has really helped me stay sober because our whole ethos is authenticity. It would be incredibly unauthentic if I was trying to sell non-alcoholic beer while also drinking myself. It’s such a great drive for me to stay sober. With every day that goes by, it gets easier and easier, but I’m very grateful for the company, for the support it’s given me on my journey to sobriety.

I love that. How has your life changed since you got sober?

I’m just a better version of myself. I am clearheaded and I’m able to work harder. I think I do better work. I think that I handle things going wrong at work in a much more gracious way, and I can take those things in stride and not let myself get flustered. I’m someone that likes to panic a lot — or used to — and since quitting drinking and having such a level head through my whole experience, I’ve just found myself able to manage things a lot better.

That’s impressive. Let’s talk padel. How often do you play?

So admittedly, I have not played padel in ages. I’ve been so busy. I’ve been so lucky the last year to do The Odyssey and Spider-Man back-to-back. I really did not want to get injured while I was working, and when I play padel, I like to play at 100 percent capacity which means that I’m very, very vulnerable to rolling an ankle or something. So I was being very careful. But now that I’m not filming for the rest of the year, I’m really excited to get back into it.

Padel versus pickleball?

Padel all day. I love pickle, and I play with Zendaya’s mom a lot, which I really, really enjoy. But I think pickle for me kind of lacks the power that padel has. In padel, you can really smack it. And I love that padel feels more in line with tennis. I love tennis, but I’m not a very good tennis player. So padel, I think, gives me that young kid’s dream to play tennis at a high level, and I love it. We’ve got some great pros here today, and I love watching them play. It’s a different game when they play, and it’s a lot of fun to see.

Let’s talk about your big year ahead of promoting these two big movies. Promoting a film involves all these social segments, podcasts and new platforms. When you sit down with your team to map out how to navigate it all, how do you decide what to do and what you like to do?

I love how it’s changed because I think it feels like we’ve created an environment where people promoting movies can be more authentic to who they are. It feels more personal now in a really nice way. I’m someone that really protects my personal life at all costs, but I will always trade a podcast with a really, really fun host over sitting in a hotel room and doing a hundred interviews in a day. That said, those can be really fun, too. When it’s Zendaya and Jacob [Batalon] and I together doing interviews, it’s always a hoot. But, yeah, I love how it’s changed and it’s really fun. We have to be more strategic and plan ahead so much more. I have an amazing publicist [Cara Tripicchio] who looks after me better than anyone. I’m very grateful to her and her team.

The press tour that we are about to go on is humongous. I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not daunted by the travel and the number of events we are going to. But one of the things that I love, especially for Spider-Man, is that the movie is all about community. All of these stops that we’re doing, we are working in cultural events, community events and there will be charitable components. When you can promote a movie but also shed some light on amazing causes, that’s what really makes a difference.

How does it feel returning to Spider-Man now. It’s been a few years and feels like everyone missed Peter Parker…

It is very strange going back into it. We all lived through COVID and that was a time when there was no press tours. All of the press was done via Zoom or in the city that you were in. It’s been a long time since I went on a full-blown press tour and I’m actually just really excited. All of the people that I made the movies with, I love and admire, and they are at the top of their game and people that I can learn from. I’m excited to go on a press tour for The Odyssey with Matt Damon and learn from him and watch the way he navigates it. And Chris is such a visionary director. What I love about Chris is that his involvement isn’t just making the movie. He’s over every piece of creative we do for press and promo. It’s just really interesting to see what one of the greatest living directors does on set and then what he does for the press tour. Both of the movies are absolutely fantastic and could not be more different. I feel really lucky that they’re coming out when they are and it’s shaping up to be a fantastic summer.

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Fantastic summer incoming: Nolan’s The Odyssey opens July 17, while Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day opens July 31.