Tom Holland has revealed that he feared director Christopher Nolan disliked his performance on his first day filming The Odyssey. The actor said Nolan kept calling cut during a scene, making him think something had gone wrong.

Speaking to Fandango, Holland recalled filming with Jon Bernthal and struggling to understand why Nolan stopped the scene so often.

“Working with the IMAX cameras for the first time is an experience,” Holland explained. “It is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I didn’t know that it only ran for three minutes. So, I remember you would continue cutting, and I was with Jon [Bernthal], like, ‘Why does he keep cutting? Why does he keep doing that?”

The Real Reason Nolan Kept Calling Cut

Holland admitted he quickly began to doubt himself. He wondered if Nolan disliked what he and Bernthal were doing.

“And in my head, I was like, ‘Does he not like what we’re doing? What is happening?’ And then, I remember it was actually [stunt coordinator] George Cottle that was like, ‘No, no, no, there’s only three minutes in the mag.’ I was like, ‘Oh, thank god.’ I thought I was totally shitting the bed in this scene.”

The actor later learned the repeated cuts had nothing to do with his performance. Nolan had to stop filming because the IMAX camera magazines could only record about three minutes of footage before reloading.

A Career Highlight

Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Matt Damon’s Odysseus, in The Odyssey, which arrives in theatres on July 17. The cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth and John Leguizamo.

Although the first day left him worried, Holland now describes working with Nolan as the best experience of his career.

In a recent interview with GQ, he said making The Odyssey was “the best experience I’ve had on a film set.”

“Working with Chris, getting to know him and Emma [Thomas] was absolutely fantastic. I’ve never seen someone who can work the way that they do, and there is a reason why they’re the best in the business for sure,” Holland continued. “To get a front row seat to that and to be a part of the process and to collaborate with a true master of his craft and learn from him was the best experience I’ve ever had.