Robert Pattinson Reveals the 'Riskiest' Stunt He Pulled for Christopher Nolan
Robert Pattinson says the scariest stunt Christopher Nolan ever asked of him didn’t happen on a set. He spilled the story to Tom Holland and Matt Damon as the trio gears up for Nolan’s new epic The Odyssey.
Christopher Nolan is back at it again with another massive ensemble for 'The Odyssey', and if you thought all the danger on set came from cinematic cliffhangers and ancient monsters, well – Robert Pattinson would like a word.
Apparently, Nolan's Dog Is More Terrifying Than Any Greek Creature
So here’s the scenario. Robert Pattinson is sitting down for a chat with Matt Damon and Tom Holland for GQ, talking all things 'The Odyssey' (which, by the way, shows signs of being the sort of epic where the cast list needs its own envelope). Naturally, the talk turns to Christopher Nolan’s working style – you know, Nolan being everywhere at once, hands-on to the point you’d swear he’s got clones loitering round every corner. The trio all agree, Nolan never asks his actors to do anything he wouldn’t try himself.
Well, almost never. Pattinson jumps in with this completely ridiculous confession:
'Saying that, he did come and tell me to hold his dog. Which I was like "that dog, it is going to bite me." You hold it [laughs], like he does not want to be held. That was one of the scariest stunts I think I have ever done. It wasn’t even a stunt.'
The lot of them get a good laugh out of it – but Pattinson genuinely looks traumatised as he recalls Nolan’s allegedly not-so-cuddly pet. Apparently, risking ancient Greek death-traps onscreen is hardly a patch on wrangling Nolan’s dog. Frankly, I find that rather believable.
An Absurdly Big Ensemble
The main trio of Damon (Odysseus), Holland (Telemachus), and Pattinson already reads like a fever dream. But Nolan’s assembled pretty much everyone except maybe your own nan for the rest of the cast:
- Anne Hathaway
- Lupita Nyong'o
- Zendaya
- Charlize Theron
- Jon Bernthal
- Benny Safdie
- John Leguizamo
- Bill Irwin
- Samantha Morton
- Himesh Patel
- Will Yun Lee
- Mia Goth
- Jimmy Gonzales
- Elliot Page
- Jesse Garcia
- Rafi Gavron
- Shiloh Fernandez
- Corey Hawkins
- Nick E. Tarabay
- Maurice Compte
- Michael Vlamis
- Iddo Goldberg
- Josh Stewart
- Ryan Hurst
- Anthony Molinari
- Jovan Adepo
- Sean Avery
- Logan Marshall-Green
- James Remar
- Travis Scott
- Ian Casselberry
Presumably, they also needed a separate catering tent just for the SAG cards and egos alone. Damon is the headline act as Odysseus, with Holland playing his son and Pattinson thrown into the mix.
Release Details
'The Odyssey' lands in US cinemas 17 July 2026. There’s no word here on UK release dates, but with a cast this absurdly big (and a dog cameo that’s apparently scarier than anything in the original Homeric poem), expect plenty of noise when it arrives.