Matt Damon and Tom Holland Were Jealous of Zendaya Getting Christopher Nolan’s Highest Praise on THE ODYSSEY Set

It sounds like Christopher Nolan doesn’t hand out compliments very often on a movie set, and apparently earning one from the filmmaker feels like winning an Oscar. That’s exactly why Matt Damon and Tom Holland ended up hilariously jealous of Zendaya while filming The Odyssey.

During a recent interview with ELLE, Damon opened up about Nolan’s directing style while shooting the upcoming fantasy epic, explaining that the director tends to keep his reactions pretty restrained after a take.

“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.”

For most actors, getting a “good” from Nolan sounds like a major victory. But then Zendaya apparently reached a whole different level.

According to Damon, there was one moment during filming where Nolan reacted to Zendaya’s performance in a way that caught everyone’s attention.

“Zendaya, on the other hand, there were takes where she did one thing, she did this amazing scene, and he said, ‘Cut.’ And then he went, ‘Perfect.'”

That one word completely wrecked Damon and Holland. The actor explained that the two of them became fixated on the compliment because neither of them had ever received that kind of praise from Nolan before.

“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 b—-ed about it for the entire rest of the film. ‘Did you get anything today?’ ‘No, I got a ‘good’ — moving on.’ ‘Yeah, me too,” he elaborated.

It’s kinda funny imagining Damon and Holland spending the rest of production comparing Nolan compliments like kids checking report cards.

The Odyssey is Nolan’s massive adaptation of Homer’s classic epic poem and follows the legendary Greek king Odysseus as he struggles to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Along the journey, he faces mythological creatures, deadly obstacles, and a brutal path back to his wife Penelope.

The movie has become one of the most anticipated films of 2026 thanks to Nolan’s involvement and its huge cast that includes Damon, Holland, and Zendaya. If these stories from the set are any indication, the performances are going to be something special.

The Odyssey hits theaters on July 17, 2026.