This article was originally published on Crafting Your Home. A human contributor also wrote and edited the post.
Tom Holland has never been shy about how proud he is of his wife, but a new round of press for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has given fans an especially warm look at what that support actually looks like behind the scenes.
In a recent interview promoting the film, Holland opened up about quietly being there for Zendaya during one of her biggest moments in the movie, even though their characters barely share screen time.
It is the kind of story that makes an already highly anticipated film feel a little more personal before it even hits theaters.
The Odyssey brings together a genuinely stacked cast, with Matt Damon leading as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, Holland as their son Telemachus, and Zendaya stepping into the role of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.
The film follows Odysseus on his long and difficult journey home after years of war, while Penelope and Telemachus hold things together back in Ithaca. Nolan’s adaptation has already generated plenty of buzz thanks to its scale and its cast, and it is set to arrive in theaters on July 17.
The Quiet Support Nobody Saw Coming
During an interview with CTV’s E Talk, Holland was asked whether his character picked up any wisdom from Athena over the course of the film, a playful nod to the fact that Telemachus and Athena barely interact on screen.
Costar Anne Hathaway jumped in to point out that Holland and Zendaya did technically share a room together during filming, and that is when Holland revealed something fans had not heard before.
He confirmed the two were indeed present for the same scene, but the real story was what happened once the cameras started rolling on Zendaya’s part.
Holland explained that he stuck around while Zendaya filmed her major sequence set during the siege of Troy, even though he had no reason to be there for his own role.
Rather than standing off to the side in costume or trying to insert himself into the moment, he described tucking himself away in comfortable clothes just to watch. He recalled wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, essentially hiding in a corner so he could take in her performance without getting in the way.
It is a small detail, but it says a lot about how he approached the whole day, less like a costar angling for a moment and more like a husband who simply wanted to be close by.
When it came to explaining why he bothered showing up at all for a scene he was not even part of, Holland kept it simple. He said the goal was just to let her know he was around if she needed anything, describing the moment as him quietly saying he was there for her.
He also reflected on how intense the overall experience was for both of them, calling it a wild ride that they went through together even when they were not sharing dialogue on screen.
That kind of low key presence, no direction, no interference, just proximity, has become something fans have come to associate with the couple’s public support for each other over the years.
How Zendaya Ended Up Playing Athena In The First Place
Holland also used the press run to share the story of how Zendaya ended up joining the project at all, and it turns out the casting came together in a surprisingly personal way.
Speaking with Access Hollywood alongside costar Robert Pattinson, Holland recalled the moment Nolan first floated the idea to him directly, well before Zendaya was ever brought into the conversation.
According to Holland, Nolan approached him carefully, warning him ahead of time that he had a question he hoped would not cause offense.
Holland admitted he had no idea what was coming and jokingly guessed it might be something about his height, since directors have asked him stranger things before.
Instead, Nolan asked whether Holland would mind if Zendaya was cast as Athena, a question that caught him off guard given how unnecessary he felt the ask even was.
Holland responded that he could not imagine being anything but supportive of the idea, adding that he felt honored by the suggestion rather than territorial about it.
Nolan then asked Holland to be the one to deliver the news to Zendaya himself, which led to one of the more charming parts of the story.
Rather than telling her outright, Holland went home and encouraged Zendaya to revisit the script with fresh eyes, hinting that she should pay close attention to one character in particular.
Zendaya has since confirmed her side of that exchange in her own interview, recalling that Holland came home from a meeting with Nolan and told her to read the script again with a specific role in mind.
She described being deeply grateful just to be included in the project at all, especially given how much she has admired Nolan’s work over the years, with Interstellar reportedly standing out as one of her favorites.
The two had already read the original screenplay together after Holland was first cast back in 2024, which made the eventual reveal feel like the natural next chapter in something they were already building together as a couple.
A Project The Couple Shared Long Before Filming Began
What makes this story land the way it does is the timeline behind it. Holland and Zendaya were reading The Odyssey’s script together as a couple long before either of them stepped onto set, meaning the film was already a shared experience in their relationship before it became a professional one.
That kind of overlap between their personal life and their work is not new for the pair, but this project in particular seems to have carried extra weight given the scale of Nolan’s vision and the size of the ensemble around them.
The film’s cast reads like a who’s who of major names beyond just its four leads, with Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, Mia Goth and Bill Irwin all rounding things out.
With that many recognizable faces in one production, it would have been easy for a moment like Holland quietly supporting his wife on set to get lost in the noise. Instead, it has become one of the more talked about details heading into the film’s release, largely because it feels so unforced.
Holland and Zendaya married earlier this year, and stories like this one continue to paint a picture of two people who genuinely enjoy showing up for each other, on camera and off.
Whether it is Holland tucking himself into a corner in sweatpants just to watch his wife work, or Nolan quietly checking in with Holland before extending an invitation to Zendaya, the behind the scenes version of The Odyssey sounds almost as compelling as the epic itself.
Audiences will get their own chance to judge when the film opens on July 17, but for now, this small offscreen moment between two costars who happen to be married is doing plenty of the promotional heavy lifting on its own.
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