Zendaya faced a freezing challenge on the first day of filming Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, as the extreme conditions in Iceland made it impossible for her to move her mouth to deliver her lines. It sounds like a total nightmare for any performer, especially when you are already dealing with the pressure of a major production.
She opened up about the experience on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (as reported by Variety), explaining that she had prepared thoroughly for her role as the Greek god Athena. Despite her preparation, the environment simply took over.
She admitted, “Here’s the thing. I had my lines and I wanted to have them so down. I psyched myself out a little bit.” The cold was so intense that her face literally stopped cooperating, turning her dialogue into unintelligible sounds. She described the moment as embarrassing, noting, “It was particularly cold. It was in Iceland. My mouth was just frozen. There is nothing coming out. My mouth would not move. Literally. It came out like, ‘Blah blah blah.’ So embarrassing.”
Zendaya chose to focus on the privilege of working alongside talented peers
She mentioned that she had to compartmentalize to stay focused on the job at hand. As she put it, “But I will say, I think just showing up in any situation like this… It was such a pleasure and a gift to be able to share scenes with people you admire. Part of you has to compartmentalize to a degree. Lock in, we’re working. But I was so moved and excited to be there and wanted to do my best work.”
Her performance clearly left a massive impression on the director. Christopher Nolan told Fandango that Zendaya was “perfect” during the shoot, even going so far as to say she was the only actor who earned that distinction. He even joked about the complaints regarding the filming conditions, saying, “She was always perfect. Always perfect.”
He added, “I felt guilty when I first heard they were complaining bout it, but then I realized that’s kind of on them and not me.” Nolan previously praised her casting as Athena, telling Elle magazine that she brings an iconic grace to the role. He noted that playing a goddess is a difficult task, but he believes she is a true movie star and an incredible actor.
Zendaya was not the only cast member feeling the heat, or rather the pressure, on that first day. Tom Holland, who portrays Odysseus’ son Telemachus, had his own moment of panic. He spent his first day convinced that Nolan was unhappy with his performance because the director kept cutting the camera.
It turns out that the production was using IMAX cameras, which have a limited capacity for film. Each mag only holds enough film for three minutes of footage. Holland explained, “Working with the Imax cameras for the first time is an experience. It is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I didn’t know that it only ran for three minutes.”
He recalled being on set with Jon Bernthal and questioning why the director kept stopping their takes. He was worried that he was failing, admitting, “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?’ And in my head, I was like, ‘Does he not like what we’re doing? What is happening?’”
The confusion cleared up once stunt coordinator George Cottle explained the technical limitations of the Imax gear. Holland was relieved to find out the truth, saying, “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 shtting the bed in this scene.”
You can see the final result when The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17 from Universal Pictures.
Published: Jul 6, 2026 08:00 pm