Zendaya did not discover she was being considered for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey through her agent or the filmmaker himself. Instead, the news came from her husband, actor Tom Holland.
Speaking on the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, Zendaya revealed she had already been thrilled that Holland had secured a major role in Nolan’s epic adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. “I was already on Cloud Nine for him,” she said. The surprise came when Holland returned home and asked her to reread the script, this time focusing on the character of Athena. “I was like, ‘Shut up! You’re joking!’ It was pretty cool,” she recalled.
Holland later shared his version of the story with Access Hollywood. He said Nolan asked during a meeting whether he would mind if Zendaya played Athena. Holland said he had no objection and, after receiving Nolan’s approval, went home and encouraged Zendaya to read the script again, paying close attention to Athena’s role. Watching her realise she was under consideration, he said, was “amazing”.
Holland admitted the couple had read the confidential screenplay together the night before his meeting, later realising that doing so may have breached Nolan’s famously strict secrecy surrounding his projects.
Zendaya also reflected on her first collaboration with the Oscar-winning filmmaker, revealing that Nolan once described one of her performances as “perfect”. Speaking to ScreenRant, she joked, “No one can tell me anything now.”
She said she initially did not realise how rare the compliment was. Nolan’s directing style, she explained, is to trust his actors and offer little feedback if he believes a scene is working. “If he’s good with it, you’re doing good. You’re doing just great. Perfect,” she said.
The compliment quickly became a running joke among her co-stars. Matt Damon revealed he and Holland spent the rest of filming complaining that Nolan had given Zendaya a “perfect”, while they only received comments such as “good”. Damon joked he had never even been told “great”.
The Odyssey marks Zendaya’s first project with Nolan. She plays the Greek goddess Athena, the divine protector of Odysseus, portrayed by Damon. In Homer’s epic, Athena guides Odysseus throughout his journey and helps his family as they await his return, making her one of the story’s central figures.
Zendaya first gained fame as a Disney Channel child star in Shake It Up and K.C. Undercover. She later established herself as one of Hollywood’s leading actors through the Dune films, Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise and HBO’s Euphoria, earning two Emmy Awards for her performance in the series.
Nolan has previously described Zendaya as a “true movie star” who is “always perfect”. With her first collaboration with the acclaimed director already attracting attention, her portrayal of Athena has begun generating early awards speculation well before the film’s release.
