Samantha Morton’s Circe Just Earned ‘The Odyssey’ Comparison To Heath Ledger’s Joker

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has been one of the most anticipated films of the year, and with good reason. The film boasts an ensemble of over thirty confirmed actors spanning generations of Hollywood royalty, and speculation about who would emerge as the breakout performer has been building for more than a year. Most of that chatter has understandably centered on the names carrying the poster, including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland.

But as the film’s July release creeps closer, a quieter name buried deep in the credits is suddenly generating the loudest buzz of all. Samantha Morton’s casting as Circe was confirmed relatively quietly compared to the film’s earlier announcements, and Nolan’s marketing campaign notably avoided releasing a single image of her in character. That silence has only made what came out this week hit harder.

According to a post from film account DiscussingFilm, citing Empire Magazine, Morton’s performance as Circe reportedly earned the first standing ovation from a Nolan cast and crew screening since Heath Ledger’s work in ‘The Dark Knight’. It is a staggering claim given the company it places Morton in, and one that instantly reframed the conversation around who might steal the show when ‘The Odyssey’ finally hits theaters.

In the new issue of Empire, producer Emma Thomas said Morton’s performance as Circe earned a similar reaction to Ledger’s Joker among the cast and crew, recalling that Morton received a round of applause once her scene wrapped, something they had not seen since Ledger on ‘The Dark Knight’. Those comments appeared as part of Empire’s on set coverage of the production, which the outlet has been rolling out ahead of the film’s release.

Nolan himself has made clear how much he wanted Morton specifically for this role. He said Samantha Morton was someone he had wanted to work with for a very long time, and that she was exactly who he had in mind once he finished writing Circe and shaping how the character would be approached, adding that he was thrilled when she said yes. It is a notable admission from a director not typically given to effusive praise before a film has even premiered.

Morton first earned acclaim for playing Hattie in ‘Sweet and Lowdown’, which brought her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and she went on to become one of the most respected British actresses working in Hollywood with roles in ‘Minority Report’, ‘Morvern Callar’ and ‘In America’, the latter earning her a second Academy Award nomination. Television audiences likely know her best from ‘Harlots’, ‘The Serpent Queen’, and her chilling turn as Alpha on ‘The Walking Dead’. She holds two BAFTA awards to go along with her two Oscar nominations.

In Homer’s original text, Circe is an enchantress ruling the island of Aeaea who famously transforms Odysseus’ crew into pigs before eventually becoming something of an ally to the hero, a part that reads more like a vivid cameo than a lead role, which only raises the stakes on just how much impact Morton apparently made with it. An enthusiastic reaction from cast and crew is never a guarantee of critical acclaim once a film actually reaches audiences, but the comparison to Ledger is hard to shake once it has been made. With ‘The Odyssey’ now bearing down on its theatrical release, Morton’s Circe has quickly become one of the film’s biggest talking points, and fans are already debating whether an actress can really turn a few scenes as a mythological sorceress into the kind of moment Ledger delivered as the Joker.