Matt Damon has revealed how Christopher Nolan depicted The Odyssey’s Cyclops without resorting to 100% CGI.
Speaking via the Good Hang podcast, Damon revealed that the crew built a real 60-foot tall puppet of the Cyclops in a cave. Unlike a normal film production which would do all of this work on a soundstage or in front of green screen with a CGI version of the Cyclops, Nolan did as much of it in-camera as possible. The team built a set inside of a real location known as Psychro Cave, which is where Zeus is believed to have been born in Greek mythology.
“He does as little special effects as humanly possible,” said Damon. “You can do quite a bit without CGI. He understands what year he lives in and has the absolute best special effects teams, they really help try to figure out how we can do just about everything in-camera.”
Nolan is best known for his desire to do everything for real. He flipped a real semi-truck in the middle of Chicago for The Dark Knight, put Matthew McConaughey on wires and spun him around in a real version of the tesseract from the end of Interstellar, and recreated the blinding blast of an atomic bomb using practical effects in Oppenheimer. Many wondered how he would adapt a fantastical story like The Odyssey without relying heavily on CGI and it seems like they found a way.
Of course, Nolan uses some CGI to enhance/support his images and blend practical effects. It’s an important distinction to note that Nolan doesn’t hate CGI as a tool, he just doesn’t like to use it as a crutch, especially when he’s afforded budgets that allow him to bring it all to life on set. It’ll be interesting to see and hear how they brought other aspects of The Odyssey to life, but the Cyclops was certainly one of the biggest questions for a lot of fans.
Nolan also has a strong affinity for IMAX and has always wanted to shoot an entire movie on IMAX 70MM film. With The Odyssey, he was finally able to achieve that vision. Previously, it was impossible because the camera was too noisy for dialogue scenes, so it was reserved for big set pieces and establishing shots. However, the IMAX team developed new equipment to suppress the sound of the IMAX film camera, allowing for The Odyssey to be the first ever narrative-driven commercial film shot 100% on IMAX film.
The Odyssey will finally release in theaters next week on July 17th.
Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN’s news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
