Christopher Nolan once said that he would like to explore the horror genre at some point in his career. Although he has briefly ventured into this territory in "Batman Begins" and "Oppenheimer", he is yet to make a full-fledged one. However, in his upcoming release "The Odyssey", we are likely going to see, possibly, the biggest horror sequence he has done so far: an encounter with Cyclops, the one-eyed creature from Homer's poem of the same name on which the big-scale, IMAX-friendly mythological epic is based.
Nolan, who has always been a proponent of practical, in-camera effects over excessive reliance on CGI, managed to build a towering 60-foot practical contraption to bring the Cyclops Polyphemus to life. In an interview with Empire magazine, Nolan shared that rather than relying on standard digital effects, his goal was to strip away any "storybook or cartoonish" feel and capture what the terrifying encounter would look like in real life. The monster is physically realised using a massive, mechanical, anthropomorphic puppet built directly on the set, which should evoke the work. The creature's look is grotesque, asymmetrical, and heavily scarred, leaning into a gritty, realistic texture rather than adopting a clean CGI approach.
Nolan framed the sequence less like a traditional fantasy adventure and more like a visceral horror moment. By using low lighting, tracking shots, and massive practical scale, the sequence aims to place the audience directly into the claustrophobic nightmare experienced by Odysseus and his men.
“Everything about the Cyclops sequence is aimed at trying to imagine: what would this be like in real life?” Nolan told Empire. “Not approaching it from a storybook or cartoony point of view, but really trying to be in there with Odysseus and his men. It’s a horrifying situation.”
The sequence was shot inside Nestor’s Cave in Messenia, Greece, which brought its own challenges. The puppet's movements and performance were overseen by Bill Irwin, who previously operated and voiced TARS in Nolan's "Interstellar." Nolan and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema filmed the sequence entirely with IMAX cameras. This added an authentic, suffocating, and claustrophobic atmosphere to the scene. Nolan noted in the same interview that once the rock is moved across the cave entrance, the darkness becomes genuinely oppressive.
Featuring Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and Benny Safdie, among others, in a stellar ensemble, "The Odyssey" opens in theatres worldwide from July 17.
