Matt Damon jokes he and Tom Holland envied Zendaya for Nolan’s praise: ‘She got a perfect?’
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Matt Damon has been quietly amused watching the kind of praise Zendaya receives from Christopher Nolan on the set of 'The Odyssey.'
Damon is the lead in the director’s upcoming epic and is working with Nolan for the third time. But he said he and co-star Tom Holland could not help feeling a bit jealous of how differently Nolan reacted to Zendaya’s takes.
According to Damon, Nolan would give them a simple thumbs-up and move on. But when it came to Zendaya’s scenes, the reaction was on another level. “‘Cut.’ And then he went, ‘Perfect,’” Damon said.
Christopher Nolan’s praise for Zendaya surprised Matt Damon
In a conversation with ELLE, Damon described Nolan’s restrained directing style on set. “Chris is known for being very circumspect. So when you do a take, it’s not like he says, ‘That was great.’ He’ll go, ‘Yep, good. Okay.’ And that is the equivalent of the greatest praise you could ever get,” Damon explained.
“Zendaya, on the other hand - there were takes where she did one thing, she did this amazing scene, and how Nolan reacted with all enthusiasm.” Damon continued that the contrast quickly became a running joke between him and Holland.
“Literally, Tom and I were obsessed with this. She got a ‘perfect’? I’ve never even gotten a ‘great.’ She got a ‘perfect’? He and I joked about it for the entire rest of the film. ‘Did you get anything today?’ ‘No, I got a good - moving on.’ ‘Yeah, me too.’”
Damon portrays Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who journeys home after the Trojan War. Zendaya plays Athena, the goddess of wisdom who guides and protects him throughout his journey.
Holland portrays Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, who sets out to learn the truth about his father’s fate. Anne Hathaway also appears as Penelope, Odysseus’s wife.
Christopher Nolan calls Zendaya a ‘true movie star’
Nolan has praised Zendaya in glowing terms, highlighting the calm and elegance she brought to the intense production of 'The Odyssey.'
Speaking about her performance, Nolan said, “We would be in the maddest, craziest situations, just all of us fighting the elements, tearing our hair out, all these things going on, and she would sort of parachute in from her other job with this sense of true grace and poise,” Nolan said of the actress.
“I mean, she’s literally playing a goddess; it’s a tall order. She’s a true movie star, but also an incredible actor.” He added that her presence often stood out even in the most chaotic filming conditions, where the cast and crew were dealing with physically demanding scenes and unpredictable environments.
The director noted that Zendaya seemed to bring a natural stillness to the role that matched the mythic scale of her character, making her performance feel both grounded and larger than life.
'The Odyssey' is set for release on July 17 and features a star-studded ensemble cast, including Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, and Robert Pattinson.
