- Zendaya jokingly threatened to leave Tom Holland if he didn’t take the role in ‘The Odyssey’.
- Holland had to convince Sony to delay the next Spider-Man movie so he could join Nolan’s project.
- Zendaya and Holland are starring together in ‘The Odyssey’ and the upcoming ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’.
Tom Holland is giving Zendaya plenty of credit for helping him land one of the biggest roles of his career.
While speaking with People alongside his The Odyssey costars Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway, as well as director Christopher Nolan, Holland shared the funny conversation he had with his wife after Nolan offered him the role of Telemachus in the upcoming epic.
According to Holland, he came home after meeting with Nolan and immediately told Zendaya that he’d been offered a movie. When she asked who was behind it, he simply referred to it as “the big one.”
“She said, ‘Chris?’” Holland recalled. “And I said, ‘Yeah, Chris Nolan.’”
At the time, however, there was one major complication. Production on Spider-Man: Brand New Day was scheduled to begin around the same time as The Odyssey, leaving Holland with a difficult decision.
That’s when Zendaya jokingly stepped in.
“Z said, ‘I’ll leave you if you don’t do The Odyssey,’” Holland shared, prompting laughter from everyone in the room.
Nolan jokingly thanked Zendaya for the assist, while Holland added, “Well, thank you to her. Here I am.”
Making the film happen wasn’t as simple as saying yes. Holland previously told GQ that he had to ask Sony Pictures executive Tom Rothman to delay production on the next Spider-Man movie so he could join Nolan’s project. Fortunately, Sony agreed, allowing him to take on the role.
The timing worked out especially well considering Zendaya is also starring in The Odyssey as Athena. The married couple, who tied the knot earlier this year after first getting together in 2021, are now sharing the screen in yet another major franchise while also gearing up for the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which arrives in theaters July 31.
Zendaya recently opened up to Extra about playing the goddess of wisdom and the inspiration behind one of her promotional looks, which was designed with Athena’s owl in mind.
She also reflected on why she has always been considered an old soul.
“I think it comes from growing up very early and in a very mature environment,” she explained. “When you’re a kid working on sets, you’re surrounded by adults all the time, so you grow up pretty quickly.”
The actress admitted that stepping onto a Christopher Nolan set for the first time was a little intimidating, but having Holland by her side helped ease those nerves.
“He was there on my first day, which I was really grateful for,” she said. “Something like this is such a daunting task. The scale and scope of it are extraordinary, so having that support meant a lot.”
As for decompressing after long days of filming, Zendaya said there wasn’t much time to dwell on it.
“I was just really busy,” she said. “It was kind of onto the next thing before I even had time to think about it.”
Holland had nothing but praise for his wife and costar, saying sharing the experience together is something they still can’t believe happened.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “We still can’t believe we got to experience this epic movie together, on the same set and on the same days. She’s fantastic in the film. She had a really difficult job, and when people see what she does in the movie, they’ll understand just how challenging it was. As always, she nailed it.”
Thanks in part to one playful ultimatum from Zendaya, the couple will now be spending the summer starring in two of Hollywood’s biggest releases.
