Maxance Vincent
As the press tour for Christopher Nolan‘s upcoming star-studded epic based on Homer‘s The Odyssey begins, the director has confirmed via an interview with Time Magazine that Lupita Nyong’o is set to play two characters.
The Oscar-winning actress will portray Helen of Troy, the world’s most beautiful woman, married to Jon Bernthal‘s Menelaus, who is blamed for starting a war, and Helen’s sister, Clytemnestra, married to Menelaus’ brother, Benny Safdie‘s Agamemnon.
Nolan also confirmed in that interview that he did not cast any actors to play the Gods that populate this mythic world, but instead makes the audience feel their presence through the environment, stating, “I became more interested in the idea that, to people in that period, evidence of gods was everywhere. The wonderful thing about cinema, and IMAX in particular, is that you can take an audience to a place of immersion, feeling close to events like storms, turbulent seas, high winds. You want the audience to be on the boat with them fearing the ocean, fearing the wrath of Poseidon, the way the characters do. That to me is so much more powerful than any individual image you can have [of a god].”
Rapper Travis Scott, who also provided an original song for Nolan’s Tenet, is also cast in the film as a bard. Justifying this odd choice, Nolan says, “I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap.”
The film boasts an incredible ensemble of actors, including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, and John Leguizamo, among others. It will be the first movie to have been entirely captured with IMAX 15/70mm cameras and employ their next generation of cameras, which were named “The Keighley Camera,” in honor of IMAX’s Chief Quality Officer David Keighley, who passed away in September of last year. Keighley worked closely with Christopher Nolan to pioneer large-format filmmaking ever since the Academy Award-winning director wanted to employ IMAX cameras in The Dark Knight.
The Odyssey releases on July 17 and select tickets are on sale now.
Source: Time
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