Tom Holland Reveals The Only Thing That Brought Filming On ‘The Odyssey’ To A Halt
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has spent months building anticipation as one of the most ambitious blockbusters of the year. The epic fantasy film adapts Homer’s ancient Greek story, following Matt Damon’s Odysseus as he tries to make his way home to his wife Penelope after years away following the Trojan War. Nolan shot the film with a heavy emphasis on practical locations and natural light, which gave the production a scale unlike almost anything else in theaters this year.
The shoot itself involved going on set for two days with Nolan, his cast and crew as they crossed the globe to film the story on a gigantic scale, battling everything from bees to mountain climbs along the way. Tom Holland stars in the film as Telemachus, the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who sets out on his own journey while waiting for his father to return home. Given the scope of the shoot, it makes sense that not every day went according to plan.
That is exactly what Holland revealed in a new interview with Empire Magazine, shared online by the fan account Christopher Nolan Archives. According to the post, Holland described the only day filming was actually stopped because of weather, and it involved a rainbow so bright it clashed with the tone of the scene entirely. He explained that his character was meant to be arriving home ready to take the throne, a serious and emotional beat, but the sky had other plans.
“There was one day where it was just too much. Where my character is returning home, from boy to man, he is ready to ascend the throne. And I just remember standing under an umbrella with Chris, and the most preposterous rainbow was coming out of the castle I was supposed to be going home to. And we just did have to wait for the rainbow to clear, because it was the most ridiculous thing. It looked like something out of My Little Pony.”
The image attached to the post shows Holland in costume as Telemachus, standing near a fortress with a flag whipping in the wind, giving fans a glimpse of the very homecoming scene he was describing. Empire has been rolling out exclusive first look photos from the production for months, including shots of Holland’s Telemachus alongside Anne Hathaway’s Penelope and Mia Goth’s Melantho.
Weather interruptions like this one fit right into how Nolan approached the entire production. The director relied heavily on real locations and natural environments across multiple countries rather than leaning on artificial sets, which meant conditions outside anyone’s control ended up shaping parts of the shoot. For a film built around large outdoor sequences and natural lighting, a single rogue rainbow derailing the mood of a pivotal homecoming moment tracks with just how unpredictable the process could get.
‘The Odyssey’ carries an enormous ensemble beyond Holland and Damon, including Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway among many others filling out the cast. With a story this mythic and a production this massive, small human moments like a cast and crew stuck waiting under umbrellas for a rainbow to pass feel like exactly the kind of behind the scenes detail fans have been craving.
Would you have wanted the rainbow left in the final cut of Telemachus’ homecoming, or does Holland’s frustration make total sense for the scene Nolan was going for?
