Tom Holland thought Chropher Nolan wasn’t happy with his performance on The Odyssey | Hollywood News

For Tom Holland, working with Chropher Nolan on The Odyssey came with an unexpected moment of self-doubt. Speaking in Mumbai ahead of the film’s India premiere, the actor recalled briefly thinking the Oscar-winning filmmaker wasn’t happy with his performance. During the same conversation, Holland and co-star Matt Damon also opened up about the enormous challenges of making Nolan’s most ambitious film yet.Recalling the experience, Holland explained that he misunderstood one of Nolan’s early directions on set.“I thought Chris wasn’t happy with my performance because he called ‘cut’ within three minutes,” Holland said.He later realised that the interruption was purely technical. IMAX film cameras can only record for around three minutes before the film magazine needs to be replaced.
“Shooting in IMAX requires a lot of collaboration with not only the directors, but also the camera crew. We were lucky that our camera crew was like an F1 crew because they were so fast. We were doing such emotional scenes that their delay would have been the loss of momentum. Our team made sure we never lost momentum. So, a lot of credit should go to them.”
‘You’ll be a hundred feet tall on screen’
Holland said acting in a film shot entirely on IMAX required a completely different approach from conventional filmmaking.
“There’s a big difference between stage acting and film acting, and film acting and IMAX acting. Because there’s a subtlety you’ll have to bring as you’ll be a hundred feet tall on the screen, so everyone rose to the occasion,” he said.Story continues below this ad
The actor added that his recent run in the stage production of Romeo & Juliet unexpectedly prepared him for Nolan’s filmmaking style.
“I was really lucky to do a play, Romeo & Juliet, before starring in The Odyssey. A lot of the shooting in IMAX is like shooting a stage play because you know these moments are fleeting, and if you don’t get them right, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow.”
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Walking onto the biggest set of his career
Holland also recalled being overwhelmed when he first arrived on location in Morocco.Story continues below this ad
“There was a huge sand dune in Morocco. It felt more like I’d come back in time than I’d come on a film set. There were thousands of people in costumes and horses running in the sand, with the waves crashing against them. I remember an Assant Director telling me, ‘Just walk in this direction and at some point, you’ll find the crew.’ I walked for what felt like miles and eventually saw Matt and Chris at the epicentre of this thing.”
“I felt like pinching myself on that day that this is the first time I’ve been a part of something so big and won’t be ever again,” he added.
Matt Damon on the biggest production of his career
Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus, echoed Holland’s sentiments about the scale of the production, saying the logics were unlike anything he had experienced before.
“I told Emma, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why would you produce this movie?’ I’m so happy I’m not a producer on this movie because the level of coordination is beyond imagination,” Damon said, recalling a conversation with producer Emma Thomas.
He then shared Thomas’ description of the project.Story continues below this ad
“She said, ‘This is like six to seven movies. But we’ve done each of these movies. We’ve been on the sea with Dunkirk. We’ve been on the mountains with The Dark Knight. So, we were already prepared for this movie.’”
Damon added, “That’s what I feel too. Every tool from the toolkit I’ve used so far has been evolving and refining all my life for this moment.”
Producer Emma Thomas also admitted that The Odyssey presented a different kind of challenge because almost every sequence demanded blockbuster-level planning.
“We’ve had challenges on every film. But on this film, we had many challenges. In each film, we’ve had one big set piece, which we’ve thought about how we’re going to film it. But in this film, we had so many that every time we were done with one, we had to do another one,” she said.Story continues below this ad
About The Odyssey
Written and directed Chropher Nolan, The Odyssey is based on Homer’s ancient Greek epic and follows King Odysseus’ perilous journey home after the Trojan War as he battles mythical creatures and impossible odds to reunite with his wife, Penelope, played Anne Hathaway. The film stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton and Jon Bernthal, and releases in Indian theatres on July 17.