Tom Holland quietly asked for his Odyssey skirt to be shortened so he would look taller on camera, and Christopher Nolan spotted the tweak within two seconds. The hilarious confession comes from Universal's making-of documentary, giving fans a surprisingly relatable glimpse behind the curtain of one of the year's biggest epics.
A classic Hollywood vanity play was no match for a director who notices everything. Holland took his request to costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who earned her first Oscar nomination for Nolan's Oppenheimer and knew all too well the scrutiny that comes with the job. The moment the altered outfit was presented, Holland says Nolan immediately asked, 'How come the skirt is shorter?' Holland reenacted his own exasperated reaction as he told the story, and fans have been passing the clip around ever since.
How Shooting on IMAX Foiled Tom Holland's Height Hack
Anyone who has tugged at a hem before a photo will understand the urge. The catch is that Nolan films on IMAX, where the frame is massive, and every proportion is blown up to the limit. Holland has said working with those cameras for the first time was unlike anything he had seen, and on his first day he even mistook the constant calls of 'cut' for a verdict on his acting.
Nolan has said his crew shot over two million feet of film across 91 days, much of it out on the open ocean. When a director is tracking that much footage, even a missing centimetre of fabric stands out immediately.
Nolan's Rules for the Wig, the Horse and the Tide
Holland was not the only cast member to try his luck on set. Robert Pattinson asked head of hair Gloria Casny for a long wig to play Antinous, and the answer was a flat no. Some fans have joked about the rejection online, while others wish Nolan had let him have the hair.
While the look of the film was non-negotiable, the calendar was a different story. In Morocco, Nolan moved the start date up by two days while the enormous Trojan Horse was still sitting in crates at customs. Production designer Ruth De Jong recalled his unbothered reaction as, 'Yeah, anyways, carry on.'
Even once the prop made it to the beach, nature did not cooperate, and the incoming tide knocked it over. Nolan's deadpan reply, according to Variety, was, 'Great. Well, I'm gonna shoot this tomorrow.'
How the Cast Survived Nolan's Eye for Detail
Despite his tailoring plans being foiled, Holland clearly holds no grudge over the wardrobe veto. The actor has called The Odyssey the best experience he has ever had on a film set, a sentiment suggesting the cast appreciated the director's precision once the cameras started rolling. That discipline certainly paid off, helping carry the ancient epic to a massive $1.8 billion (£1.3 billion) box office run.
These candid stories come from the 75-minute behind-the-scenes feature, which recently premiered at the Spielberg Theatre on the Universal lot with Matt Damon moderating a panel alongside the film's department heads. The screening gave audiences a rare look at what it took to pull off a production of this scale without cutting corners.
Fans will not have to wait long to revisit the finished spectacle for themselves. The Odyssey arrives on digital on 17 November, the same day Steven Spielberg sits down with Nolan for a conversation at the DGA Theatre. When viewers finally watch the epic from home, they can rest assured that every single centimetre on screen passed inspection.
