Telemachus’s Sword Fights Steal the Spotlight in New ‘The Odyssey’ Featurette
Christopher Nolan’s take on Homer’s epic has spent months building anticipation through practical stunts, IMAX spectacle, and a cast stacked with A-listers. As the film’s theatrical release draws closer, Universal has been steadily peeling back the curtain on how the director pulled off some of his most ambitious sequences yet, giving fans glimpses of the training and choreography behind the film’s biggest moments.
Tom Holland has become one of the more vocal members of that cast when it comes to describing just how physically demanding the shoot really was. Holland stars in ‘The Odyssey‘ as Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who spends much of the story trying to track down his long lost father while defending his home from suitors circling his mother. Unlike his years of web slinging in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this role required him to pick up a sword for the first time on camera.
That training is now front and center thanks to a new clip shared by Rotten Tomatoes, which shows Holland walking fans through the behind the scenes work that went into his fight sequences in ‘The Odyssey.’ The featurette teases a tense confrontation filmed atop a cliff in Italy as Telemachus prepares for his own journey, offering a rare look at the physical prep that went into a role Holland has called unlike anything he had done before.
Holland has been candid about just how intimidating those early days on set felt. Speaking to Fandango, he described the fear that came from repeated cuts during his first day filming, admitting the constant interruptions from Nolan initially made him think he was bombing the scene entirely. It turned out the cuts had nothing to do with his performance and everything to do with the IMAX film magazines only running for three minutes at a time, a detail relayed to him on set by stunt coordinator George Cottle.
The physical challenge of the role was not lost on Holland either. He has described the scale of certain sequences as genuinely daunting, at one point calling the production a journey through “a lot of uncharted waters” given how demanding the scope of it all was. He has also credited Nolan’s encouragement after a grueling first day for helping him settle into the physicality the part demanded.
Nolan’s commitment to practical filmmaking runs through the entire production, and it clearly left an impression on his younger star. Holland has admitted he still cannot fully wrap his head around how Nolan achieved several of the film’s biggest stunts and sequences without leaning on CGI, a mystery he was eager to ask the director about the moment he finally watched the finished cut.
‘The Odyssey’ also stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, and a sprawling ensemble that includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron, with the film set to hit theaters on July 17. With Holland’s fight training now making the rounds online, how do you think his Telemachus stacks up against the rest of Nolan’s warriors when ‘The Odyssey’ finally arrives in theaters?
