Here\u2019s a conundrum: since The Odyssey<\/em> is, famously, one of the most mythical stories ever told \u2013 stacked with fantastic beasts, told on a gigantic scale \u2013 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<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But, how do you make a real-looking Cyclops, for the sequence in which Matt Damon\u2019s hero \u2013 and his men \u2013 are menaced by the one-eyed giant Polyphemus in a murky cave? The answer is, a combination of all kinds of techniques \u2013 from animatronics to puppetry \u2013 all overseen by Interstellar<\/em>\u2019s TARS star, Bill Irwin. Including a towering 60-foot contraption that brought a sense of gargantuan scale on set. \u201cEverything about the Cyclops sequence is aimed at trying to imagine: what would this be like in real life?\u201d Nolan tells Empire<\/em>. \u201cNot approaching it from a storybook or cartoony point of view, but really trying to be in there with Odysseus and his men. It\u2019s a horrifying situation.\u201d With the help of Irwin, Polyphemus had a real presence in the cave. \u201cBill was doing voices and noises and was with us that entire time,\u201d explains Damon.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The sequence was shot inside Nestor\u2019s Cave in Messenia, Greece, which brought its own challenges. \u201cAt the cave mouth, there was a buzzing,\u201d Damon recounts. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d Inside, meanwhile, was a rather ripe smell, thanks to the 40 sheep who were part of the scene. \u201cIt got pungent,\u201d Nolan chuckles. \u201cYeah, it got very, very dank and smelly after a time. But I\u2019ve built a lot of caves before \u2014 shooting in a real cave, the feeling is utterly different. Once the rock is moved across the door and you\u2019re in the dark, it\u2019s very, very oppressive. It gave it a sense of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read Empire<\/em>\u2019s full The Odyssey<\/em> feature \u2013 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 \u2013 in the August 2026 issue, on sale Thursday July 2. Pre-order a copy online here \u2013 and choose one of three collectible covers. The Odyssey<\/em> comes to cinemas from July 17.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s a conundrum: since The Odyssey is, famously, one of the most mythical stories ever told \u2013 stacked with fantastic beasts, told on a gigantic scale \u2013 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11044,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11042\/revisions\/11044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Empire](\"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/the-odyssey-cyclops-scene-used-60-foot-contraption-on-set-what-would-this-be-like-in-real-life.jpg\")
<\/div>\n