Tom Holland had to have a “very uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Executives to star in The Odyssey.
Tough Conversation
The 30-year-old actor was keen to work on Christopher Nolan‘s upcoming epic movie. Tom Holland persuaded Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman to delay production on Spider-Man: Brand New Day in order to accommodate him filming both projects.
Speaking to GQ alongside The Odyssey co-stars Matt Damon and Robert Pattinson, he said, “I said to Chris, like, ‘Look, I want to do this movie, but if I’m going to do it, I’m going to have to call Sony and have a very uncomfortable conversation.'”
Fortunately, the studio agreed, which Tom Holland believes was a sign of respect for Nolan and his way of working.
He reflected, “I think one of the reasons why Sony were happy to move is because Chris has that reputation of ‘This movie isn’t going to go five months over, and we aren’t actually going to lose Tom for two years.’ Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.”
“Saved” Spider-Man
And Tom Holland ultimately believes the change to the production schedule “almost saved” Spider-Man: Brand New Day because it meant Destin Daniel Cretton could be brought in as director.
He said, “The Odyssey almost saved Spider-Man because we wouldn’t have had Destin. He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now.”
“I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any Spider-Man movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”
Nolan’s Efficiency
The actor was stunned at the speed and efficiency that define Nolan’s way of working.
He said, “I think coming from the Marvel space, and I think this will upset Marvel a little bit – his level of preparation is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
“There’s not a single question you can ask him that he can’t answer immediately. He’s also quite simple in the way that he works. There are times when they use fancy camera tricks and things like that, but he really does come to set and he finds the shot.”
Lessons Learned
And Tom Holland admitted the lessons he learned on The Odyssey were then brought to the Spider-Man set.
He said, “I was really able to lay down the law and say, ‘We are not going to come to set and figure it out. ‘We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it’s Spider-Man 4 and they make loads of money and we’re going to just have a big summer. Why are we making this movie?’”
“And Destin was super instrumental in that, but it was just really great to constantly be calling up the studio and [producers] Amy [Pascal] and Rachel [O’Connor], who I love, and be like, ‘Well, Chris is doing it this way. This is how I think we should be doing it.’”