Dubai: According to an exclusive interview with People magazine, Tom Holland has revealed that wife Zendaya jokingly threatened to “leave” him if he turned down Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Speaking to the magazine, Holland recalled returning home after meeting Nolan and sharing the life-changing offer with Zendaya.
“I was offered this movie,” Holland said, adding that he only described the director as “great.” Zendaya immediately thought it was Nolan.
However, there was one big problem. As Holland explained, filming for Spider-Man: Brand New Day it was originally scheduled to begin on the same day that production would begin Odyssey.
That’s when Zendaya offered up some playful yet sharp advice.
“Z said, ‘I’ll leave you if you don’t Odyssey“, Holland said, prompting laughter from Nolan and his fellow cast members during the interview. Nolan jokingly replied, “Well, thanks for that.”
The scheduling conflict was eventually resolved after Sony Pictures agreed to move production elsewhere Spider-Man film.
In an exclusive interview with GQ published in June, Holland revealed that he had what he described as a “very uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures executive Tom Rothman to demand that Spider-Man: Brand New Day be delayed so he can film Nolan’s epic.
Holland also said he believes Nolan’s reputation for finishing productions on schedule helped the studio accommodate the change.
“Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation,” he said.
According to People, the scheduling arrangement allowed Holland and Zendaya to appear together in both films. Holland stars as Telemachus, son of Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, while Zendaya portrays the goddess Athena in Nolan’s adaptation of the ancient Greek epic.
During the same interview, Nolan praised Holland’s work ethic, saying he had admired the actor’s performances for years and was eager to work with him despite his demanding schedule.
“It wasn’t easy being stuck between so many different things. He’s a very busy young man,” Nolan told People, adding that the cast “stepped up magnificently.”
Away from their professional lives, Holland also appeared to confirm in a recent interview with Esquire that he and Zendaya are married. Holland revealed that AI-generated images falsely depicting a lavish wedding on Lake Como briefly convinced his grandmother that she wasn’t invited.
Odyssey is slated to hit theaters on July 17, and beyond Spider-Man: Brand New Day later this month.
