Hollywood’s New Father-Son Duo Tries Not To Ruin Dinner
Dig actors-on-actors Matt Damon and Tom Holland doing promo-junket business inside a kitchen studio, where the talking points arrive with dough, sauce and the possibility of a completely avoidable pizza incident.
The stars of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey stopped by NYT Cooking for “The Pizza Interview,” trading the usual chairs-and-backdrop setup for aprons, flour and a practical test of whether Hollywood’s newest on-screen father and son can cooperate long enough to make dinner.
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The Odyssey Promo Tour Finally Reaches The Pizza Oven
Matt Damon and Tom Holland face gods, monsters and dough that refuses to behave. Visit the official movie home before the film arrives July 17, then prepare your own considerably smaller kitchen epic.
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Odysseus And Telemachus Trade The High Seas For High-Gluten Dough
Damon plays Odysseus, while Holland plays his son Telemachus in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic. In the movie, the family has war, distance, gods and monsters between them. In the NYT kitchen, the central obstacle is whether two very famous men can shape a pizza without treating the dough like another publicity question.
The format loosens them up immediately. Instead of delivering another polished explanation of the film’s scale, the pair work side by side, negotiate kitchen space and chat while their hands remain occupied. It is actors-on-actors with something useful happening on the counter.
Damon brings the calm confidence of somebody who has survived several decades of press tours and probably understands that flour eventually lands everywhere. Holland supplies the quicker nervous energy, watching, reacting and attempting to keep both the conversation and the pizza moving forward.
Together, they have the relaxed rhythm of co-stars who survived an unusually enormous production and no longer need to sell each other on the experience. Nolan’s film was shot entirely with IMAX film cameras, but this interview only requires enough coverage to prove who touched the dough after it hit the counter.
The Pizza Interview Gives The Promo Answers Somewhere To Go
Celebrity cooking interviews work when the food is not merely a prop. Kneading, stretching and assembling a pizza interrupt the trained rhythm of the junket. An answer may begin neatly, but then somebody needs more flour, loses control of the dough or notices what the other person has placed on the pie.
That little bit of distraction makes Damon and Holland feel more like two coworkers making lunch than two names attached to one of the year’s largest movies. They still discuss The Odyssey, but the kitchen keeps the conversation from becoming a second trailer with a cutting board.
Matt And Tom Sling Pies Between The Talking Points
The complete supplied gallery preserves all nine images in their original order, moving from the opening dough work through the interview and the final pizza reveal.
Matt Damon and Tom Holland appear in “The Pizza Interview” from NYT Cooking. Video stills via The New York Times.
The Odyssey Arrives In Theaters This Friday
The kitchen visit is all in promotion for The Odyssey, opening in theaters this Friday, July 17. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the film follows Odysseus on the dangerous journey home after the Trojan War, with Damon in the title role and Holland as Telemachus.
The actual journey involves mythical creatures, warfare and a family separated by years. The promotional journey apparently involves pizza. Honestly, after everything Odysseus has endured, let the man have a slice.
Watch Matt Damon And Tom Holland Make The Pizza Interview
NYT Cooking puts The Odyssey co-stars behind the kitchen counter to make pizzas while discussing food, their working relationship and Christopher Nolan’s new epic.
Source: Official NYT Cooking YouTube and Universal Pictures.
