Here’s a conundrum: since The Odyssey is, famously, one of the most mythical stories ever told – stacked with fantastic beasts, told on a gigantic scale – how do you imbue it with a sense of realism? The answer is, with a bit of Christopher Nolan magic. This, after all, is the director who gave Gotham true grit in the Dark Knight trilogy, and flung audiences to the far reaches of space with scientifically-accurate physics in Interstellar. And so, for his Ancient Greek blockbuster, he went all-out to place audiences right next to Odysseus on his treacherous journey home to Ithaca.
But, how do you make a real-looking Cyclops, for the sequence in which Matt Damon’s hero – and his men – are menaced by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus in a murky cave? The answer is, a combination of all kinds of techniques – from animatronics to puppetry – all overseen by Interstellar’s TARS star, Bill Irwin. Including a towering 60-foot contraption that brought a sense of gargantuan scale on set. “Everything about the Cyclops sequence is aimed at trying to imagine: what would this be like in real life?” Nolan tells Empire. “Not approaching it from a storybook or cartoony point of view, but really trying to be in there with Odysseus and his men. It’s a horrifying situation.” With the help of Irwin, Polyphemus had a real presence in the cave. “Bill was doing voices and noises and was with us that entire time,” explains Damon.
The sequence was shot inside Nestor’s Cave in Messenia, Greece, which brought its own challenges. “At the cave mouth, there was a buzzing,” Damon recounts. “And you can hear it in the movie, because there were thousands of bees right at the mouth of the cave. You had to walk through this curtain of bees to get in.” Inside, meanwhile, was a rather ripe smell, thanks to the 40 sheep who were part of the scene. “It got pungent,” Nolan chuckles. “Yeah, it got very, very dank and smelly after a time. But I’ve built a lot of caves before — shooting in a real cave, the feeling is utterly different. Once the rock is moved across the door and you’re in the dark, it’s very, very oppressive. It gave it a sense of reality.”
Read Empire’s full The Odyssey feature – going on set for two days; speaking to Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson; spending time with Christopher Nolan in post-production; and much more – in the August 2026 issue, on sale Thursday July 2. Pre-order a copy online here – and choose one of three collectible covers. The Odyssey comes to cinemas from July 17.
