Lupita Nyong’o Just Called Out Her Own ‘The Odyssey’ Role While The Rest Of The Cast Was Freezing And Vomiting
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has been billed as one of the most physically demanding shoots in recent blockbuster history, and the film has finally arrived in theaters after months of buzz about what the cast endured to bring Homer’s ancient epic to IMAX screens. The production sent its ensemble across Greece, Morocco, Iceland, Scotland and Italy, and stories from that journey have been trickling out for weeks ahead of release.
Star Matt Damon has been especially candid about the toll the film took on everyone involved. He described the arduous, globe-trotting shoot as feeling more like an expedition than a movie, and recalled being blasted with hoses, hiking daily to a castle in Sicily, and getting soaked filming Hades scenes during Iceland’s white nights. Damon even joked that every location was supposed to get easier than the last, but it never did, calling the whole shoot relentless.
That is exactly the context that makes Lupita Nyong’o’s comments land the way they have. In a viral clip shared by X user JayJay, Nyong’o can be heard telling ET on the red carpet that she cannot claim to have faced any real challenge on the film, admitting she was simply “playing queens in nice clothes and beautiful locations” while everyone else was talking about how brutal the shoot had been for them.
The remark stands out even more once you know what her castmates were dealing with elsewhere on the same production. Robert Pattinson said he had never seen a cast look so exhausted, and Damon even recounted a day when rough seas caused several actors to become seasick on camera, saying six guys started puking during one particularly grueling day on the water. Nolan reportedly leaned into the chaos in the moment, asking the ill actors if it was alright to keep filming, and they agreed.
Nyong’o plays dual roles in ‘The Odyssey’, portraying both Helen of Troy and her sister Clytemnestra, a task that would typically be considered one of the more demanding assignments on any ensemble project. Yet in an interview with ET, she noted that having already tackled two roles at once in Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ gave her a level of comfort going into this shoot that made her Odyssey work feel far less taxing by comparison.
Tom Holland, who plays Telemachus, has offered a very different read on the experience, calling it the job of a lifetime and the best time he has had on a film set despite the demands. The gap between his and Damon’s accounts of physical hardship and Nyong’o’s breezy description of beautiful costumes and gorgeous scenery has fans online having a field day, with many pointing out how refreshingly honest her admission was compared to the usual press tour talking points.
‘The Odyssey’ hit theaters on July 17, and with its scale, star power and now viral behind the scenes commentary, it looks primed to dominate conversation all summer. Do you think Nyong’o really had it easy, or is she just being modest about playing two of the most pivotal women in the entire story?
