Tom Holland on working with Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Jimmy Fallon asks the question every fan wanted: how is Matt Damon to work with? Holland doesn’t hesitate.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better number one on the call sheet.”
Not just talented. Not just great in the movie. The hardest worker on set — and he always had a smile on his face.
Then Holland tells the story that made the whole studio laugh.
They’re shooting a fight scene in a quarry. The entire quarry is on fire. That’s Nolan. He looks at the already insane setup and says, “You know what? Set it all on fire. Let’s make it totally crazier.”
Holland had rehearsed the fight for weeks. When he finally gets to watch Damon do it, he stands off to the side with the stunt coordinator, elbows him, and whispers:
“Oh my God… that’s Jason Bourne.”
Fallon loses it. “You can’t mess this up, man. You’re fighting the one and only Jason Bourne.”
Holland says it was awesome. He learned so much. And then the part that hits different: Damon told him during press that every movie he’s ever made led to this one. Nolan said the same thing.
For a young actor to stand on that set and watch two titans doing their best work on the biggest film of their careers?
“A surreal experience for sure.”
Father and son. Odysseus and Telemachus. Matt Damon and Tom Holland. Christopher Nolan setting a quarry on fire just because he can.
Tom Holland on working with Matt Damon in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.
Jimmy Fallon asks the question every fan wanted: how is Matt Damon to work with? Holland doesn’t hesitate.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better number one on the call sheet.”
Not just talented. Not just great in the movie. The hardest worker on set — and he always had a smile on his face.
Then Holland tells the story that made the whole studio laugh.
They’re shooting a fight scene in a quarry. The entire quarry is on fire. That’s Nolan. He looks at the already insane setup and says, “You know what? Set it all on fire. Let’s make it totally crazier.”
Holland had rehearsed the fight for weeks. When he finally gets to watch Damon do it, he stands off to the side with the stunt coordinator, elbows him, and whispers:
“Oh my God… that’s Jason Bourne.”
Fallon loses it. “You can’t mess this up, man. You’re fighting the one and only Jason Bourne.”
Holland says it was awesome. He learned so much. And then the part that hits different: Damon told him during press that every movie he’s ever made led to this one. Nolan said the same thing.
For a young actor to stand on that set and watch two titans doing their best work on the biggest film of their careers?
“A surreal experience for sure.”
Father and son. Odysseus and Telemachus. Matt Damon and Tom Holland. Christopher Nolan setting a quarry on fire just because he can.
Anne Hathaway just called her third baby a buzzer beater and Seth Meyers immediately understood the assignment.
She’s sitting there glowing, talking about adding a third to the brood, and she doesn’t even try to play it cool.
“We knew what we were doing… but we were so shocked it worked.”
They’re calling this one their buzzer beater. Got it in right at the last second.
Seth, already a veteran of three kids, leans in like a man who’s seen the final season.
His advice is brutal and perfect:
Once there’s three, it just goes on autopilot. There’s not much you can do except watch.
It goes from “you’re terrified” to “it’s a TV show you binge.”
Every day you’re like, “Oh, new episode.”
Anne lights up: “That’s great because I love the channel right now. New cast member.”
Then Seth drops the line that should be required viewing for every parent of two:
Make sure you tell the first two, “We’re doing this because you guys are getting stale.”
Studio note.
Anne loses it. The whole room loses it.
Three kids isn’t chaos. It’s just the show getting renewed with a new lead and the original cast finding out live.
Who’s telling the first two?
Your next break might arrive through a single person you meet.
Stay kind, stay real, and look for ways to help others take the next step.
When we raise each other up, everyone ends up higher.
Anne Hathaway just called her third baby a buzzer beater and Seth Meyers immediately understood the assignment.
She’s sitting there glowing, talking about adding a third to the brood, and she doesn’t even try to play it cool.
“We knew what we were doing… but we were so shocked it worked.”
They’re calling this one their buzzer beater. Got it in right at the last second.
Seth, already a veteran of three kids, leans in like a man who’s seen the final season.
His advice is brutal and perfect:
Once there’s three, it just goes on autopilot. There’s not much you can do except watch.
It goes from “you’re terrified” to “it’s a TV show you binge.”
Every day you’re like, “Oh, new episode.”
Anne lights up: “That’s great because I love the channel right now. New cast member.”
Then Seth drops the line that should be required viewing for every parent of two:
Make sure you tell the first two, “We’re doing this because you guys are getting stale.”
Studio note.
Anne loses it. The whole room loses it.
Three kids isn’t chaos. It’s just the show getting renewed with a new lead and the original cast finding out live.
Who’s telling the first two?
Matt Damon thought he was living a Christopher Nolan father-son masterpiece.
He’s on a boat all day, completely separated from the crew. Tom Holland is standing on the shore. They lock eyes across the water.
Tom puts his hand on his heart.
Matt — nearsighted, emotional, already in Odysseus mode — immediately does the same thing back. He’s out there on the water holding his chest like this is the big reunion scene. The whole day he thinks they’re sharing this silent, beautiful father-and-son moment.
They wrap. They reconnect.
Matt walks up and asks, “Chris told you to do that? Put your hand on your heart?”
Tom looks at him and says:
“Matt… my costume was choking me.”
He was just trying to loosen the collar.
Matt had spent the entire day saluting a wardrobe malfunction.
Needless to say, that shot is not in the final film.
Sometimes the most cinematic moment on a Nolan set is just two grown men misunderstanding each other from 200 yards away.