Tom Holland Reveals His Terrifying First Day on Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
Tom Holland has spent years navigating the pressure of massive blockbuster productions, but nothing quite prepared him for stepping onto the set of Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ for the very first time. Playing Telemachus, the son desperately searching for his missing father Odysseus, meant carrying real emotional weight from day one, and Holland has now opened up about just how overwhelming that first day actually felt.
Speaking during a joint Fandango interview alongside Nolan and co-stars Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, Holland described that opening day on set as one of the most daunting experiences of his entire career. He explained that the pressure came from simply being part of a production of this scale, working alongside Nolan himself and an ensemble of genuinely accomplished co-stars.
Making that first day even more significant, Holland revealed the scene the production chose to start with was one of the most important moments in his character’s entire arc, a deeply emotional sequence that carried real stakes for how Telemachus’s journey would unfold. Sitting beside him for that scene was Jon Bernthal, who plays Menelaus, and Holland noted that it also happened to be Bernthal’s very first day on set as well, leaving the two actors navigating what he called genuinely uncharted waters together.
“I think my first day for me was probably one of the most daunting experiences of my career, just being a part of a movie of this scale and working with yourself and with amazing co-stars” “And that scene that we started with is one of the most important scenes in my character arc, and it’s a very emotional scene. I was sat with Jon Bernthal, who’s a good friend of mine — it was also his first day — so there was a lot of uncharted waters for us”
That shared uncertainty only grew once filming actually began. Holland recalled that Nolan kept calling cut throughout the scene, and in the moment he began to spiral internally, wondering whether the constant interruptions meant the director secretly disliked what he and Bernthal were doing.
“And I remember it was really challenging, it was a big scene. We finished the day, you gave me a hug and a pat on the back, and when I left that day, it wasn’t until I left the set that I was like, “Oh, I can totally do this. Like, I can swim in these waters.”
According to Holland, it took stunt coordinator George Cottle stepping in to explain the real reason behind the repeated cuts, revealing that the IMAX film magazine they were shooting on only held three minutes of footage at a time, nothing to do with the quality of the performance itself.
Once that misunderstanding cleared up, Holland described finishing the day on a genuinely reassuring note. He recalled that Nolan gave him a hug and a pat on the back once they wrapped, and it was not until he actually left the set that the reality of what he had just accomplished set in, realizing for the first time that he could genuinely handle the demands of a production this massive.
That first day tension has since given way to a much closer bond between Holland and Bernthal off camera as well. During the film’s New York premiere, Holland surprised Bernthal mid-interview by crashing his conversation with a warm embrace on the red carpet, with Bernthal later describing Holland as family and someone he has known since he was seventeen years old.
Holland has continued praising the overall experience of working on the film in separate interviews, telling GQ Sports that the entire shoot felt like the job of a lifetime and calling his collaboration with Nolan and producer Emma Thomas the best experience he has ever had on a film set. Given how nerve-wracking that very first day turned out to be, it makes the glowing reviews Holland has offered since feel like a genuine testament to how much trust was built between him and Nolan over the course of production.
Were you surprised to hear how nervous Tom Holland was on his first day filming The Odyssey?
With ‘The Odyssey’ now playing in theaters worldwide, Holland’s account of those early jitters offers a rare, honest look at just how intimidating it can be to step into a massive Christopher Nolan production, even for an actor as experienced as he is.
Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!
