Anne Hathaway has revealed why she was flown by helicopter to the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey every day, a perk that earned her a good-natured roasting from co-star Tom Holland during the film’s press tour ahead of its July 17 release.
The reason, Hathaway explained, came down to wardrobe logistics: Penelope’s elaborate queen costume would have taken longer to reassemble after a sweaty mountain hike than the trek was worth.
What Anne Hathaway Said About the Helicopter
The moment came during a joint Extra interview with Holland, where a discussion about the shoot’s punishing locations turned into a lighthearted callout session. Holland described trekking up and down mountains every single day just to reach the set, at which point Hathaway revealed she had been offered an entirely different mode of transportation.
Hathaway explained she didn’t have armor to sweat into like some castmates, and that reassembling Penelope’s intricate costume after a hike wasn’t practical, so production offered her a helicopter ride. She admitted she kept quiet about it whenever colleagues complained about the walk down afterward.
Tom Holland’s Reaction and the Viral Moment
A clip of Holland recounting the torturous crew hikes while Hathaway confessed her airborne commute spread rapidly online, with fans delighting in the contrast. The exchange fueled exactly the kind of co-star ribbing audiences love, given how candid both actors have been about the production’s difficulty.
Holland, who plays Odysseus’s son Telemachus, has separately recalled a trip to the Cyclops cave set that required hours of walking from town, up a mountain, and through a rope system built by the crew just to reach the location.
How Grueling Was The Odyssey Shoot?
By all accounts, brutally. Nolan’s team filmed the ancient Greek epic across some of the most rugged locations in recent memory, with mountain hikes and rope systems through forests part of the daily routine.
Nolan and producer-wife Emma Thomas even gamified the misery, offering small prizes such as electronics to whoever made it up the mountain fastest, turning the daily trek into a competition among cast and crew. Co-star Logan Marshall-Green described a relentless work ethic flowing from the director: the second you are on set, you are working, and you never turn your back to the ocean, or it will smack you.
Hathaway leaned in fully, reportedly staying in character as Penelope even on days she wasn’t filming.
Who Is Penelope in The Odyssey?
Hathaway plays Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and queen of Ithaca, who fends off a swarm of suitors during her husband’s 20-year absence, including Robert Pattinson’s sleazy Antinous. The role reunites her with Nolan after The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar.
Her queenly costuming, the very wardrobe behind the helicopter arrangement, anchors the Ithaca storyline, which also features Mia Goth as the maid Melantho and Holland’s Telemachus setting out to find his father.
The IMAX Milestone Behind the Film
The helicopter story lands amid a press tour heavy on technical revelations. Hathaway explained that The Odyssey is the first dialogue film shot entirely on IMAX, made possible only after Nolan, cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, and sound engineer Willie D. Burton built a custom “blimp” to muffle the notoriously loud camera, paired with a mirror rig for intimate scenes.
Holland said the mirror system let him forget the camera existed during a scene with Jon Bernthal, whose face floated so close “I could have kissed him.” The Matt Damon-led epic, for which Nolan shot over 2 million feet of film, opens in theaters and IMAX on July 17, 2026.
FAQ
Why was Anne Hathaway helicoptered to The Odyssey set?
Her elaborate Penelope costume would have taken too long to reassemble after a sweaty mountain hike, so production flew her to the remote locations instead.
How did Tom Holland react?
He playfully called her out during a joint Extra interview after describing his own daily mountain treks, and the clip went viral.
Who does Anne Hathaway play in The Odyssey?
Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and queen of Ithaca, is in her third collaboration with Christopher Nolan.
How hard was The Odyssey shoot?
Cast and crew faced daily mountain hikes and rope systems to reach sets; Nolan even offered prizes for the fastest climbers.
When does The Odyssey come out?
July 17, 2026, in theaters and IMAX, as the first dialogue film shot entirely on IMAX cameras.
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Last Updated on July 8, 2026 by 247 News Around The World
