Tom Holland reveals the specific habit he stole from Matt Damon on the set of The Odyssey

Success in Hollywood is often associated with connections and natural charisma, but behind many successful careers is something far less glamorous.

Tom Holland sat down with Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans ahead of “The Odyssey” hitting theaters July 17, discussing a shoot Matt Damon has called one of the most difficult of his career. Holland plays Telemachus in the film. Damon plays his father, Odysseus.

While filming The Odyssey, Tom Holland revealed that he adopted a specific habit from Matt Damon that changed the way he approaches his work. The lesson came from how Damon manages his time and energy on set. It is a simple practice that anyone can apply, whether you are building a career, running a business, or trying to become more productive in everyday life. Sometimes the habits we learn from successful people are not complicated. They are small choices that create consistency and help us perform at our best.

Asked what he watched Damon do and decided to copy, Holland answered right away. “I think it’s his work ethic,” he said. “It’s his approach to the work. It’s his approach to the people on set, his kindness, his empathy, his compassion, his drive to be excellent.” He added that all of it happens, in his words, “none of that comes at the sacrifice of the fun.”

Holland described one scene that showed exactly what he meant. During a sequence filmed in a cave in Greece, the crew set the space on fire around 400 extras, with Holland and Damon required to escape through it while cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema followed with a handheld camera.

Mid-take, as Damon grabbed Holland to pull him out of frame, he stayed in character and improvised a line referencing Damon’s own Jason Bourne franchise. Holland called it a “crazy day” and said Damon showed elite focus when the scene demanded it, then found the energy to keep the mood light once the cameras stopped rolling.

Here’s the part worth taking home. Most men assume elite performance under pressure requires staying serious and intense the whole way through, treating lightness as something that competes with the job. Damon’s set behavior, as Holland describes it, argues for something different. Focus and fun run on separate switches for him. He can lock in completely for a dangerous, high-stakes take, then flip straight back to joking around the moment the cameras cut. That’s a specific, learnable skill: reading exactly when a moment calls for total focus, and releasing it just as deliberately once the take ends.

Men who try to stay switched on and serious at every hour of a hard job usually burn out their team faster than the job itself does. The model Holland describes is more useful: go all in when it counts, then let it go. That’s worth remembering the next time a hard stretch at work makes staying tense feel like the only responsible option. The people who hold up best under real pressure are the ones who know exactly when they can let go.