Tom Holland Feared He Flopped on First Day Filming Nolan's The Odyssey

Tom Holland has spoken about how sharply nerves hit him when he arrived for his opening day on the set of Christopher Nolan's forthcoming epic, The Odyssey.

The 30-year-old performer, best known for his role as Spider-Man, said he walked away convinced he was completely ruining his work. He feared Nolan was displeased with what he was delivering — only to find out later that the frequent pauses had nothing to do with his performance and stemmed instead from the way IMAX equipment functions.

Holland offered the account during a shared Fandango interview seated alongside Nolan, Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon ahead of the picture's release. The Odyssey is a screen version of Homer's ancient Greek epic poem.

He said his opening scenes carried strong emotional weight and held major importance to the plot, which only heightened the strain he felt under the cameras.

"You know, working with the IMAX cameras for the first time is an experience," he said, turning to Nolan. "It is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I didn't know that it only ran for three minutes."

Holland recalled growing more uneasy each time filming halted. With co-star Jon Bernthal at his side, he kept wondering why cuts kept coming.

He said: "So, I remember you would continue cutting, and I was with Jon [Bernthal] like, 'Why does he keep cutting? Why does he keep doing that?'"

He continued: "And I was like, in my head, I'm like, 'Does he not like what we're doing? Like, what is happening?'"

The actor said the explanation turned out to be simple once George Cottle stepped in.

He said: "And then I remember it was actually George Cottle that was like, 'No, no, no, there's only three minutes in the mag'. I was like, 'Oh, thank god'."

Earlier in the exchange, Holland described the production as stepping into unfamiliar territory, noting that the scale of the sequence made the work especially tough.

He said: "I remember it was really challenging. It was a big scene."

Looking back on how that first day closed, Holland said Nolan's words of support helped calm him down.

He said: "We finished the day, you gave me a hug and a pat on the back, and when I left that day. It wasn't until I left the set that I was like, 'Oh, I can totally do this. I can swim in these waters.'"

The film is due in theatres on July 17. It is Nolan's first feature since Oppenheimer collected seven Academy Awards, including honours for Best Picture and Best Director.