Tom Holland is playing Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s $250 million historical epic The Odyssey. The highly anticipated movie holds its global premiere in London today. But getting to this red carpet wasn’t easy for the actor. On his very first day of filming, Holland was completely convinced the acclaimed director despised his work.
The problem came down to pacing. Nolan kept yelling “cut” right in the middle of Holland’s takes. The crew would constantly reset the scene. Holland immediately assumed the worst about his acting abilities. “I thought I was totally s—ing the bed,” he admitted.
It took an intervention from stunt coordinator and second unit director George Cottle to calm him down. Cottle pulled Holland aside and explained the real reason for the constant interruptions. Nolan wasn’t judging the performance at all. The production was deploying new, lighter-weight IMAX cameras to capture international practical sets across Greece and Morocco. But there was a catch. These highly specialized cameras could only hold about three minutes of film at a time. Every sudden cut was just the crew running out of physical film stock.
That grueling production schedule culminated in a practical recreation of the Trojan Horse using thousands of extras without green screens. Now the film is barreling toward a July 17 global theatrical release. And the internet discourse is already heating up. Casting choices like Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy alongside Elliot Page and Travis Scott have triggered a fierce online debate, with purists aggressively comparing Nolan’s vision to Wolfgang Petersen’s 2004 Troy.
Holland survived the three-minute camera reloads. Now the entire ensemble, including Matt Damon and Zendaya, will see how audiences react to this $250 million practical experiment.