Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
Christopher Nolan noted one actor in The Odyssey performed their scene in such a stunning manner that his crew burst into applause — and it’s been nearly 20 years since that’s happened
Nolan singled out Samantha Morton (Minority Report, The Walking Dead), who plays the goddess Circe, despite her relatively brief screen time
“This was a massive film and she is someone who comes in and changes the dynamic,” Nolan told The L.A. Times in a spoiler-filled interview. “In some weird way, the film lived or died over that character. She was the fulcrum. I’ve always admired Samantha’s work, she brings so much depth of thinking about her role, there are no limitations on her performance. After one of her takes, the crew gave her a great round of applause. I was talking with Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s producing partner and wife] afterwards and she remembered that the last time that had happened was with Heath Ledger on The Dark Knight.”
Morton has similarly drawn praise in some of the first reactions to the film from journalists (“Samantha Morton damn well steals the show with the few scenes she’s in,” wrote a critic for The Independent)
Nolan also explained that he wanted a stacked cast with well-known actors, noting, “These are mythological figures, iconic in some ways. I wanted to cast it big, get the finest bunch of actors.”
The director said he chose Matt Damon, who plays the tortured hero Odysseus, due to the actor’s talent for making his characters accessible and his ability to perform plenty of intensely physical action
“I’d worked with Matt twice before and he has such a great connection to the audience, he draws them in,” Nolan said. “For this very complex character, you need an actor who disappears into parts, who is very open to the audience. You want the audience to go with him through his mistakes — and he makes a lot of mistakes. Matt was everyman for The Martian, a kind of superhero for the Jason Bourne films, and Odysseus is part everyman, part superhero.”
Nolan added, “We were going to really challenging locations, doing a lot of boat work, and he helped to lead that process. The rest of the cast, a cadre of guys who worked their asses off rowing, was looking to him and everyone saw what he was doing for the film. Without Matt, we would have been better off doing it on a sound stage.”
Meanwhile another actor in the film, Robert Pattinson, who plays Antinous, is making headlines for comparing his character to Jacob from Twilight. Pattison famously played vampire Edward in the teen fantasy saga, who competed with werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) for the affection of Bella (Kristen Stewart). “I keep comparing it … it’s kind of like Jacob in Twilight,” Pattison said on the red carpet of the film’s London premiere on Monday. “Penelope just can’t make her mind up between the two guys and I’m just trying to like help her make a decision. ‘It’s fine. [Odysseus is] dead, get over it.”
The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’ long and fantastical trip home from the Trojan War, back to the Kingdom of Ithaca to save his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland). The Odyssey is the first film to be entirely shot in the Imax format and runs 2 hours and 53 minutes
The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17
