Tom Holland Meets Tom Holland + The Odyssey Review

Dominic Sandbrook (0:08)

Hello, everyone, and welcome to a Rest Is History Members Special. Now, you are about to hear an interview I did with someone else called Tom Holland. Apparently, he's very famous, played Spider-Man or something. Anyway, he's in the new Odyssey film. It has already gone out on YouTube. So you're going to listen to that now as a members feed. But in addition to that, I'm going to give some further thoughts about that interview and then give my review of the film that he's in, The Odyssey, because to interview Tom Holland, I had to see the film and to see the film, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which meant that I haven't been able to give basically, to give my detailed opinions on the film until now. So this is going to be live and exclusive to you. Enjoy.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to A Rest Is History special. I am Tom Holland, and I have with me the real Tom Holland.

Tom Holland (1:05)

Not the real Tom Holland, just the other Tom Holland.

Dominic Sandbrook (1:09)

I know my place. I know my place. And were I the kind of person who regularly googled himself, I mean, you would have destroyed my ability to do that. I'm sorry, Tom. Well, I don't google myself, so it's absolutely fine.

Tom Holland (1:21)

Well, that's a very healthy thing to do. Yes.

Dominic Sandbrook (1:24)

So you are here to talk about The Odyssey, the incredible new film directed by Christopher Nolan in which you played Telemachus, son of Odysseus. And you said of the script of this film that it was the best script you had ever read. And what was it that made you say that?

Tom Holland (1:43)

I think it was the scope and scale of the story. You know, for anyone that's familiar with The Odyssey, you know, the kind of ancient text, turning it into a film feels like you'd have to make five films. You know, it's such a vast piece of work. But Chris's ability to tell that story in 130 pages while maintaining the heart and the soul of what makes the story so exciting, so emotional, so relevant today, I think is just such a feat. And for me, you know, it's the first time I'd ever read a Chris Nolan story, or a script.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:17)

But you're a fan of the other films?

Tom Holland (2:20)

Oh, of course I'm one, yeah, absolutely.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:21)

So all those kind of tricks with time, with multiple narratives, and the idea of people wanting to come home. I mean, in a way, The Odyssey, it features all of those themes. So yeah, kind of perfect match really, isn't it?

Tom Holland (2:33)

It does really lend itself to Chris's sensibility as a filmmaker. You know, Homer definitely is not telling a story in a linear way. It is jumping forwards and backwards in time.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:48)

And it begins with Telemachus.

Tom Holland (2:49)

It does, yeah.

Dominic Sandbrook (2:50)

That you play. I mean, just wondering, before you read the script, how familiar were with the story? You kind of read about it as a child, that kind of thing?

Tom Holland (2:58)

I mean, I'd say familiar is that I knew that he faced the Cyclops and I kind of knew that the sirens were mermaids that would sing a song somehow. And yeah, I knew that I didn't know how to pronounce Lystergonians until I made the film.

But yeah, I had a very, very general knowledge. I knew about the suitors. I knew about the stringing of the bow and the challenge that Penelope sets for all of the suitors. But it wasn't until I read the script and then in turn read the poem that I really kind of immersed myself in the text.

Dominic Sandbrook (3:29)

Because as you say, I mean, it's literally epic in scale. And I thought what was stunning about the way that the film is organized is you have all the drama of your character and Penelope played by Anne Hathaway in the suitors and all of that. And the Trojan War plays a crucial role as well in the Trojan Wars. And it's all done within less than three hours. And that is the kind of thing that Hollywood does. So Hollywood is very good at working on a massive scale, as you know, because you've been in many films like that. But there is a hint of kind of more recent Hollywood epics, aren't there, particularly superhero films, did you think?

Tom Holland (4:07)

Yeah, I think, you know, epic is not exclusive to Swords and Sandals, an ancient text. You know, I think at the end of the day, what I love about Chris is Chris lives to entertain.