Tom Holland Had a Full-On Jason Bourne Fanboy Moment Filming ‘The Odyssey’ With Matt Damon

Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient epic has become known for its massive scale, with a cast spanning multiple generations of Hollywood talent and a production that crossed continents to bring the story to life. Somewhere in the middle of all that spectacle sits a quieter story about star struck admiration between two of its leads.

Tom Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Matt Damon’s Odysseus, in the film, marking one of the more significant dramatic roles of his career outside the Spider-Man franchise. Holland has spoken openly about how surreal the entire experience felt, admitting he was still pinching himself over the fact that Nolan had cast him in the project at all.

That sense of disbelief reportedly reached a new peak during one particular scene, when Damon caught Holland completely off guard mid-take. According to accounts of the moment, Damon grabbed Holland during filming and stayed fully in the spirit of his own action hero legacy, prompting Holland to instantly recognize the actor across from him as the same man behind one of the most iconic spy franchises in movie history.

It is exactly the kind of moment that captures what makes working alongside Damon such a unique experience for a younger costar. Holland has been candid in past interviews about how much he has learned simply by watching Damon and Nolan work together on set, describing Nolan at one point as someone who is completely on top of every creative decision involved in the production.

That admiration has come through clearly across the film’s promotional tour as well. Speaking with Deadline at the film’s world premiere in London, Holland discussed discovering the modern relevance of Homer’s ancient text for the first time, describing its themes around treating others with basic decency as something audiences today could stand to learn from.

Holland has shared other behind-the-scenes stories from the production as well, including one particularly memorable day when unpredictable weather forced filming to stop entirely. He described standing under an umbrella waiting out a bright rainbow that clashed with the tone of a serious homecoming scene his character was meant to deliver, a detail that speaks to just how much Nolan leaned on real locations and natural elements throughout the shoot.

Damon himself has echoed similar sentiments about the sheer difficulty of the production, describing the physical demands of the shoot as tougher than anything he experienced even during his years on the Bourne franchise. He has said the entire cast and crew needed to give everything they had every single day just to pull off Nolan’s vision for the film.

For Holland, moments like the one with Damon on set seem to have only deepened his appreciation for being part of something this ambitious. Between working alongside one of his favorite action stars and learning directly from Nolan’s meticulous approach, the experience has clearly left a lasting impression well beyond the finished film itself.

‘The Odyssey’ arrives in theaters on July 17, giving audiences their first chance to see the results of a production that pushed its entire cast to their limits both physically and emotionally.

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