{"id":755108,"date":"2026-07-10T18:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755108\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T18:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T18:01:13","slug":"anne-hathaway-and-zendaya-both-earned-1-word-of-rare-praise-from-christopher-nolan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755108\/","title":{"rendered":"Anne Hathaway and Zendaya Both Earned 1 Word of Rare Praise From Christopher Nolan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Nolan handpicked some of Hollywood\u2019s hottest actors \u2014 including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Samantha Norton, Zendaya and Charlize Theron \u2014\u00a0to star in his upcoming action movie \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d in theaters July 17.<\/p>\n

The movie, which is based on the ancient Greek writer Homer\u2019s epic poem about the aftermath of the Trojan War, stars Oscar winner Damon as the Greek king Odysseus, and Holland as his son Telemachus.<\/p>\n

But it was Nolan\u2019s rare praise for Zendaya and Hathaway during shooting of the movie that sparked a friendly on-set rivalry among cast members, the director and his stars told TODAY correspondent Kaylee Hartung.<\/p>\n

\"RobertRobert Pattinson, Lupita N’yongo, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Zendaya. Grant Buchanan\/Dave Benett\/WireImage<\/p>\n

During filming, Nolan, who\u2019s known for his analytical directing style, which includes minimal notes to his actors, was admittedly wowed by Zendaya\u2019s performance as the Greek goddess Athena.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften referred to on set as perfect,\u201d Nolan said of Zendaya.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the chagrin of other people in the cast,\u201d the director added, laughing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, guys,\u201d Zendaya joked to the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cStill recovering,\u201d quipped Damon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a touchy subject,\u201d Zendaya added.<\/p>\n

Were the rumors true that Nolan decided that Zendaya\u2019s performance was \u201cperfect\u201d after her first take?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was the first,\u201d Zendaya responded, laughing. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt incredibly encouraged,\u201d she added of the director\u2019s feedback.<\/p>\n

Damon and Holland recalled hearing Nolan\u2019s effusive praise for Zendaya. Their reaction?<\/p>\n

\u201cShock and awe,\u201d Holland said to laughter.<\/p>\n

Oscar winner Hathaway\u2019s performance as Penelope, Odysseus\u2019s wife, also earned the director\u2019s adulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Anne may have gotten a \u2018perfect\u2019 actually,\u201d Holland recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did,\u201d Hathaway said, adding, \u201cI wrote about it in my journal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though some cast members hadn\u2019t read Homer\u2019s poem prior to being cast, Hathaway was already a fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did, like, yelp and shriek when Chris said it was \u2018The Odyssey.\u2019 It was not a very low-key reaction. I was not calm,\u201d said Hathaway.<\/p>\n

Zendaya\u2019s role in the \u201cThe Odyssey,\u201d which marks her first collaboration with Nolan, came as a surprise, she said.<\/p>\n

Zendaya learned she would appear in the movie after Holland, her \u201cSpider-Man\u201d franchise co-star and now-husband , was already cast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was funny because when he got the call I was just over the moon for him. Like, my heart was so full,\u201d Zendaya said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just excited about this journey that you were going go on,\u201d she told Holland, \u201cand really didn\u2019t kind of put myself into that equation at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was quite a pleasant surprise,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Nolan handpicked some of Hollywood\u2019s hottest actors \u2014 including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-755108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}