Christopher Nolan crowns Tom Holland one of his generation's greats after The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan is not the guy who tosses praise around. If he says something nice about your work, it usually means you leveled up. After The Odyssey, he did exactly that for Tom Holland — and not in a press junket throwaway, but in Universal's official production notes. That alone should make your eyebrows go up.

Nolan goes on record about Holland

In the studio materials, Nolan singles out Holland's take on Telemachus — the kid who grows up fast while waiting for dad to come home — and says Holland found the emotional layers the role needs. Then he drops the kind of endorsement he almost never gives:

"Working with him confirmed for me that he is one of the great actors of his generation, bringing a commitment and focus to his work that combines raw talent with a disciplined process aimed at inhabiting the truth of the character."

Worth noting: Nolan also calls The Odyssey the most ambitious project of his career. That is not nothing coming from the guy who made Oppenheimer, Inception, and Memento. The production shot more than 2 million feet of IMAX 70mm, trekked to places like Nestor's Cave, and, yes, involved a massive 60-foot practical rig on set. Even amid all that, Holland still pops as one of the big takeaways for Nolan. That tells you how hard the performance hit.

Getting the role was a journey of its own

Holland didn't just wander into this part. With another blockbuster franchise already clogging his calendar, he personally pushed to get schedules shifted so he could play Telemachus. Boardrooms before battlefields — very modern Odyssey start.

The shoot: long, brutal, and very real

Once he had the job, it turned into a 91-day marathon that spanned continents. The production leaned hard on practical effects, which Holland loved — he described the Moroccan sets like he'd stepped straight into the Trojan War. Producer Emma Thomas even remembered Nolan occasionally telling Holland to dial it back, because Telemachus is still learning how to fight — not a seasoned warrior yet.

• Length: 91 shooting days
• Where: Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Scotland, plus giant water tanks in the U.S.
• Scale: More than 2 million feet of IMAX 70mm film; demanding locations including Nestor's Cave
• Stunts: Physically heavy action work Holland threw himself into — sometimes a little too convincingly
• Vibe: Big, hands-on filmmaking; Nolan even used a 60-foot practical contraption for a key creature effect

Bottom line: On what Nolan himself frames as his biggest swing, Holland battled the schedule, survived the travel, and delivered a performance that got Nolan to break out the A+ words. That does not happen every day.

The Odyssey opens in cinemas July 17. Did Holland earn that kind of praise? I have a feeling you already know how you feel — tell me anyway.