That Time ‘Everybody’s Favorite’ Tom Holland Organized A 70mm Movie Screening For The Cast Of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film The Odyssey promises to be an epic film in every sense of the word. It’s the sort of film that some would argue Hollywood simply doesn’t make anymore. Maybe that’s why everybody took some time during production to watch another incredible 70MM epic, all thanks to Tom Holland.

A great deal has already been said about the production of The Odyssey, the incredible locations that were used, and the absolutely insane amount of IMAX film that was used. However, it turns out there was a single set that needed to be constructed on a soundstage. Matt Damon tells Empire Magazine (via IGN) that they were on the Sony lot and, because co-star Tom Holland, playing Telemachus in Nolan's film, is tight with Sony chief Tom Rothman, he was able to get everybody a screening of the complete 70MM Lawrence of Arabia. Damon said…

If you’re making a 70MM epic film, I suppose it would do everybody some good to see one of the movies that came before it. It might help the whole cast get a better handle on what it is they’re trying to accomplish. But of course, Lawrence of Arabia is over 60 years old. There aren’t 70 MM prints of the Peter O’Toole classic just lying around, even in Hollywood. Luckily, Tom Holland knows a guy.

While Tom Holland may still be a young actor, he’s clearly made a name for himself in the offices of major studio executives. It was said that Holland was instrumental in getting Rothman and Disney CEO Bob Iger talking again to renew their deal for Spider-Man after the partnership that allowed the character to be in the MCU had lapsed.

One imagines that Tom Rothman doesn’t lend out his Lawrence of Arabia print to just anybody. Maybe Tom Holland could have gotten it for any reason, but it probably helped that he wanted to screen it for Christopher Nolan and the cast of The Odyssey. Matt Damon certainly indicates this was a call that Holland could make, but one that he could not.

As somebody who counts Lawrence of Arabia as one of the reasons I love film, but who has only ever seen it on small screens, I can only imagine what this was like. Anybody working with Christopher Nolan likely has a passion for cinema and loved being able to see such a film this way. Apparently, I need to make friends with the CEO of Sony, or at least Tom Holland. He can probably set me up.