The secret pact between Christopher Nolan and Tom Holland before filming "The Odyssey"

By casting Tom Holland in his film The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan enabled him to give his girlfriend, Zendaya, a wonderful surprise.

During their first meeting about the project, the director made a request of the actor that was unexpected, to say the least. “He asked me if I’d mind asking Zendaya to play the role of Athena. I wondered why he thought that might bother me,” Tom Holland told Access Hollywood. “I replied that I’d be honored, that it was awesome, and that she’d definitely love the idea.”

A well-orchestrated announcement

Back at home, Tom Holland found Zendaya eager to hear more about this professional meeting. Very happy for her partner, she had, in fact, already read the film’s script. The actor then decided to play it coy: “I told her she should reread the script, and she replied that she’d already read it. But I insisted: ‘No, no, no, trust me, you should reread it.’”

Faced with Tom’s persistence—who advised her to focus her attention on the character of Athena—Zendaya finally got the message: this would be HER character.“The look on her face when she realized… It was incredible,” the actor confides.

The pair will be all over the screen this summer, first in The Odyssey (July 15), then in Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 29).