Exclusive | Tom Holland on Working with Christopher Nolan on 'The Odyssey': 'He Inspires This Endurance to Try and Impress Him'

For Tom Holland, The Odyssey was a first — his debut collaboration with Christopher Nolan, and by his own account, one of the most demanding experiences of his career.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter India in Mumbai during the film's press tour, Holland talked about what working in a Nolan production for the first time was like: the pressure of holding emotion across takes that ran longer than any he had experienced before, the effect of being surrounded by actors at the top of their craft, and what it felt like to take the kind of risk the film demanded of everyone involved.

The actor was candid about the challenge of staying inside the emotion of a scene when Nolan, known for holding a take well beyond its conventional endpoint, chose not to call cut. "It was difficult, but it felt so necessary for how grand this film was going to be. The thing I love about working with Chris is that no size or scope overshadows the emotion."

What could have been a source of anxiety, Holland said, became more of a fuel. Every challenge on the film, however demanding, felt justified by the scale of what Nolan was attempting. "What Chris was trying to achieve — and has achieved with this movie — was until now impossible. And that level of pressure gave me a great sense of ambition."

Talking about being on set alongside actors like Matt Damon — performers he had looked up to for years, operating at the peak of their abilities — he described it as "a blessing in so many ways" . "For me, it was like a treasure trove of good examples and lessons to take forward."

As one of the younger members of the ensemble, Holland also spoke about the specific pressure on actors at his stage of a career — the pull toward repeating what has already worked rather than reaching for something less certain. "What I love about my job is the challenges. Being afraid to take a leap of faith — sometimes you take it and it doesn't work, and sometimes it does work. I think living your life like that is a really exciting way to live."

For Holland, The Odyssey represented exactly that kind of leap — not just any film, but a Nolan production shot entirely on IMAX across real locations with practical effects. "It was really daunting, but that's what gets me up in the morning."

He also turned the question outward, toward what a film like this might mean for those watching it. If the film does what Nolan set out to achieve, Holland said, it might persuade future filmmakers that things previously considered impossible are actually within reach. "Hopefully they'll watch this movie and see that things are possible that we've deemed impossible, and it'll inspire future filmmakers to try and reach the summit where Chris is at."

Nolan is infamously known to be a director who does not dispense praise freely on set. Holland said the absence of easy affirmation produced something unexpected — not uncertainty, but a sustained drive to keep reaching.

"With Chris, he inspires this endurance to try and impress him." When production wrapped, Nolan sought Holland out and told him directly how satisfied he was with his work. "That's everything I was working towards on those days on set, accumulated right at the end."