Christopher Nolan went all-in on practical filmmaking for The Odyssey’s Trojan horse sequence

Christopher Nolan is well known for avoiding green screens and CGI at all costs, but now he has reached a new level of genius and physical—and claustrophobic—madness. During the spectacular red carpet event for ‘The Odyssey,’ cast members revealed the extreme conditions under which the iconic Trojan Horse sequence was filmed, confirming that the filmmaker isn’t afraid to suffer alongside his stars in order to capture the true essence of the story in this new adaptation.

“This man is a leader”: John Leguizamo describes the madness inside the horse

During the red carpet event in New York, accompanied by costumed soldiers and an imposing 40-foot-tall wooden statue, the film’s stars shared their stories from the set. One of the funniest and most striking stories of the night came from renowned actor John Leguizamo, who plays Eumaeus, Odysseus’s loyal and trustworthy friend in the film.

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter about his initial interactions with the director of ‘Oppenheimer’ on set, Leguizamo admitted that he was stunned by Nolan’s working methods: “I was looking for Chris Nolan to meet him, and they told me he was inside the horse with 20 actors, the DP [Hoyte van Hoytema], and the IMAX camera. I couldn’t believe that. I was like, wow, this man is a leader. This man isn’t going to ask anything of you that he doesn’t try himself.”

Matt Damon, who plays the legendary Greek hero Odysseus, had already offered some insights into the technical complexities of this particular shot during the promotional tour. According to Damon, the British director simply looked at the group of more than twenty people and told them to “squeeze in there and figure it out as you go.” The actor recalled that the intense sense of claustrophobia, the stifling heat, and the tension of the confined space seen in the final footage developed completely organically and naturally due to their confinement.

The colossal 40-foot wooden figure used in the filming was not merely an aesthetic prop or a prop that was later digitized; the production team built the full-scale structure for practical purposes to recreate the climactic moment of the Trojan War, just before Odysseus’s army launched its surprise nighttime attack and began the arduous journey home. This impressive historical and cinematic artifact is currently on public display outside the AMC Theater complex in the CityWalk area of Universal Studios Hollywood, serving as the perfect prelude to the imminent, massive release of ‘The Odyssey’ in theaters worldwide this July 17th.

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