Tom Holland revealed to GQ magazine as part of the publication’s summer cover story for “The Odyssey” that he had an “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman about delaying the production of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” so that he could film Christopher Nolan‘s epic instead. When Nolan first offered him the role of Odysseus’ son Telemachus, both movies had identical production start dates.
“So I said to Chris, like, ‘Look, I want to do this movie, but if I’m going to do it, I’m going to have to call Sony and have a very uncomfortable conversation,’ ” Holland remembered, noting that Sony agreed to push the new “Spider-Man” movie out of respect for both himself and for Nolan.
“I think one of the reasons why Sony were happy to move is because Chris has that reputation of ‘This movie isn’t going to go five months over, and we aren’t actually going to lose Tom for two years,’” Holland said, nodding to how “The Odyssey” started on schedule and finished nine days early. “Any other director, it might have been a slightly different conversation.”
Holland told GQ magazine that was even beneficial for “The Odyssey” to delay “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” as it opened the door for the Marvel movie to hire “Shang-Chi” helmer Destin Daniel Cretton as director.
“’The Odyssey’ almost saved ‘Spider-Man’ because we wouldn’t have had Destin,” Holland said. “He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now. And I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any ‘Spider-Man’ movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”
Watching Nolan at work also encouraged Holland to speak up about how his Marvel production should run.
Holland said this allowed him to “lay down the law” on the “Spider-Man” set “and say, ‘We are not going to come to set and figure it out. We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it’s ‘Spider-Man 4’ and they make loads of money and we’re going to just have a big summer. Why are we making this movie?’ And Destin was super instrumental in that, but it was just really great to constantly be calling up the studio and [producers] Amy [Pascal] and Rachel [O’Connor], who I love, and be like, ‘Well, Chris is doing it this way. This is how I think we should be doing it.’ ”
Despite spacing out the productions, “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” are now gearing up for back-to-back summer theatrical releases. Nolan’s film opens July 17, followed by the comic book movie on July 31.
“It feels like the beginning of the next chapter of my life,” Holland said about both movies coming out. “I really feel like a young man now. I have so much amazing stuff happening in my personal life to take me through to the rest of my life, and I feel like I have a new perspective on where I want to exist in Hollywood.”
Head over to GQ magazine’s website to read “The Odyssey” summer cover story in its entirety.
Leave a Reply