Over five countries and 91 days, Christopher Nolan and the cast and crew of “The Odyssey” were driven to their breaking point as they labored to bring Homer’s epic to the screen. They shot on the ocean, in craggy mountain passes, across dense forests and sandy beaches, battling wind, rain and scorching sun in an act of cinematic brinkmanship nearly as punishing as Odysseus’ long journey home.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt as exhausted as I did at the end of this shoot,” a heavy-lidded Nolan says the day after the film’s premiere in New York City. “It was the hardest thing I’ve done. It was an endurance test for all of us.”
Some locations were so remote, so unforgiving, that no one dared to film there before. Many days would start with members of the production hiking up rocky terrain just to get to where they’d be shooting.
“It felt more like an expedition than a film,” says Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus. “The running joke as we shot was ‘Boy, Greece was hard; I’m sure Italy will be easier,’ and then we’d get to Italy, and it would be just as intense. So then you’d think Iceland’s going to be a breeze, and then we got to Iceland, and it was raining sideways and we’re shooting through the night.”
