Tom Holland has revealed that it was Zendaya who finally convinced him to say yes. The Odyssey, with a characteristically direct ultimatum.
talking to PEOPLE Joined by Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and director Christopher Nolan to mark the film’s release, Holland described the moment he returned home after his initial meeting with Nolan and broke the news to his now wife.
“I sat down with Z and said, ‘I was offered this movie,'” he said.
“And she said, ‘By whom?’ And I said: ‘He’s the big one.’ And she said, ‘Chris?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s Chris Nolan.'”
The complication was significant.
Spider-Man: New Day Production was scheduled to begin the same day as The odyssey.
Zendaya’s verdict on the scheduling conflict was swift.
“Z said, ‘I’ll leave you if you don’t do it.’ The odyssey.'” The line brought laughter from Damon, Hathaway and Nolan. “Yeah. Well, thanks to her,” Nolan said, laughing. “Here I am,” Holland added.
Get The odyssey Getting work done required Holland to go back to Sony Pictures executive Tom Rothman and ask new dayProduction was delayed, a request that was finally granted.
Both films will now arrive the same summer, with The odyssey in theaters now and Spider-Man: New Day arriving on July 31.
Zendaya, who plays Athena in The odyssey and appears alongside Holland in the spider man films like MJ, she also entered the project through her husband.
Holland revealed in a recent Access Hollywood interview that Nolan gave her the opportunity to be the one to tell her that she had been chosen.
“I said, ‘Read the script again, but read Athena very closely.’ And the little corners of her mouth… It was incredible,” Holland recalled.
For Nolan, incorporating Holland into his film world was something he had wanted to do for some time.
“Tom was someone I hadn’t worked with before, but I’ve admired his work for years and really wanted to work with him,” the director said, acknowledging the logistical challenges involved.
“It wasn’t easy juggling a lot of different things. He’s a very busy young man, but this family came together.”
Regarding how the cast responded to the demands of filming, Nolan added: “I like to say it was a difficult shoot, but difficult in the right way. They got through it magnificently.”
