If you’ve ever had the predicament about whether to get a free meal from your favorite restaurant on your birthday or go see your favorite band with all your friends, you might know a thing or two about luxury problems. (Note: It took me close to 15 minutes to come up with that incredibly lame parallel.) If you happen to be one of the most famous, popular, and in-demand movie stars in the world, your luxury problems might look a bit different. How can you star in a new movie by one of the best filmmakers alive if you also have to be the lead in your own superhero franchise? Tom Holland had an answer: do both.
In a recent interview with GQ Magazine (via Variety), Holland said he had to have the “uncomfortable conversation” with Sony Pictures head Tom Rothman when faced with a massive first world problem. Christopher Nolan wanted him to be in The Odyssey, but that filming schedule would have conflicted with the shoot for Spider-Man: Brand New Day. What an “Ack ack” Cathy scenario. Naturally, Holland didn’t want to turn down the role of Telemachus, but he’s already Peter Parker! Miraculously (or maybe not), Rothman agreed to delay the fourth Spider-Man movie.
“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.”
As Holland explains, however, the delay actually helped. At the time, the movie didn’t even have a director following series director Jon Watts’ decision to step down. “The Odyssey almost saved Spider-Man because we wouldn’t have had Destin [Daniel Cretton],” 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.”
So, let that be a lesson. You too can have two incredible options happen if you have the clout of a bankable movie star and the heft of the best working director behind you. So to speak.
The Odyssey hits theaters July 17. Spider-Man: Brand New Day bows July 31.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.