Tom Holland Anne Hathaway Explain Christopher Nolans Never Before Seen IMAX Trick for The Odyssey

But Matt and I were discussing the scene a lot, and he basically stuck his head in and went, oi, thespians, get on with it, I'm gonna be on the dog. And I just remember like, oh my god, he like, he just totally was like, stop thinking about it, just do it. First of all, I really want to say, this movie is incredible, and you're both so fantastic in it. Thank you. I just, I wish everyone could see it the way I saw it in IMAX 70 last night. It's just an experience. So I have to ask the most important question first, which is, can you explain to me exactly how Chris built the time machine that took you back to ancient Greece to film On Location? Well, it was designed by Erica de Jong. Yes. Yes. So the production designer, so it was gorgeous. Yes, exactly. He took a lot of the tech that was developed for Tenet, and then we, you know, just climbed aboard. It did feel like we went back in a time machine, but a time machine that was both taking us to the future and to the past, which is so Chris Nolan if you think about it, because the movie felt super nostalgic. It felt like we were making movies how they used to be made. But then also we were breaking barriers and breaking records with shooting an entire movie on IMAX and building this, you know, incredibly unique piece of kit to dampen out the camera. So it was this kind of weird experience of being nostalgic and futuristic at the same time. So if you could ask Homer one question about The Odyssey, what would you ask? Do you think that I am a good telemacus? Matt said something very similar. Oh, he did? Yeah. Not your character, but do you think I was good in it? And I would ask, do you think Tom Holland was a good telemacus? Yeah, nice. I like that. So I'm fascinated. None of us are going to be on set with Chris, hearing him direct. I'm just curious for both of you, was there a moment on set where Chris directed you in such a way where it really helped shape the performance or make you reassess how you were playing the scene? What is it like to actually collaborate with him in that moment? I love how he can undercut the tension with almost like super British humor. I had this one scene with Matt, which is arguably one of my most important scenes in the film, and I don't want to talk about it too much because it's a big spoiler, but Matt and I were discussing the scene a lot and he basically stuck his head in and went, oi, thespians, get on with it, I'm going to be on the dog. And I just remember like, oh my God, he just totally was like, stop thinking about it, just do it. And it completely alleviated any sense of stress that I had about the importance of the scene because he had just made light of the situation. And I think what lots of directors would do, would send the crew away and give you your time and we could discuss it for an hour and you actually make yourself feel more pressure because you're making people wait. Whereas he's like, forget about the pressure, bro, you'll be fine, just do it. And I've seen him do that. You're not important right now. Yeah, it's like the dog just nailed it. The dog did like the most incredible, it's like not a dry eye on the crew and I have to follow the dog. But I saw him do it on a few occasions with a few different actors where he just completely undercut the tension with humour and it allowed a certain freedom in the following take. I want to ask you something different, I'm just about out of time. You got to do, the mirror system was very early in the shoot or in the middle of the shoot and you had to, there's like a key scene with Matt and you're using mirrors and with this IMAX blimp, can you sort of tell people about this mirror system and what it was like as an actor to work with something so new and radical, but also intimate? So we shot the whole film on IMAX and the reason that that's never been done before is related to sound. You could make a silent film on IMAX, however, any film that has dialogue, the IMAX camera, because of the size of the film stock, it's so loud when it goes through the that it obliterates any dialogue. So you'd have to loop the entire thing, which is not the best experience. So what Chris Hoyta, Willie, our sound engineer, and a lot of other geniuses, frankly, worked on was they created a blimp to go around an IMAX camera that was really huge. And I think everybody has a different relationship with it. I thought of it as like a big friendly giant. But the thing about it is, you know, when you're making movies, you have to be able to get close to the camera for eye lines. And an IMAX blimp is, you know, surrounds the camera by several feet in all directions. So that makes it very difficult. What Chris and Hoyta and all the geniuses that I mentioned did was they rigged it a mirror system. So whereby it was a strategy of mirrors. So if I was if Tom needed to see me, he was standing on one side of the lens, and I was behind it looking into a mirror that reflected into a mirror that Tom could then see that he would act with. And the thing that's amazing about it is it was so beautifully designed that none of us actors felt like we were compromising ourselves to engage with a system that made us feel like our performances were outside of ourselves. All of our memories are not just acting with you. And it was just it was truly ingenious. And it just kind of goes to show, you know, a lot of times when people talk about technology and technology in film, I hear a lot of opinions by people that have never made a movie before about how great tech is for film. And you know, I'm not like anti anything. So I'm sure it'll help in certain ways. But the fact that this piece of equipment, this new piece of tech, which is, you know, not relying upon computers was built by actual filmmakers who understood what it was that they were designed for, where all the form followed the function. It was genuinely a thrill. And if you're film nerds like us, we couldn't believe we were there. Yeah, it was crazy. I did a scene with Jon Bernthal, the whole thing on the mirror. And it made me forget that the camera was there, because his face was like floating in front of the camera. Whereas usually, you're trying to forget that there's a camera and operator, a focus puller, and then the actor. It was like, you know, I could have kissed him. He was that close. Did you? I wish I did. He's handsome. I mean, you guys are very close. We are very close. I have to go. I'm just gonna say again, congratulations. You're both incredible. Thank you so much. Thank you. Always good to see you. Always a pleasure.