Samantha Morton has said landing a role in Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey felt like a “rebirth” of her career, and a chance to be in front of a new audience.
Read More: ‘The Odyssey’ review: cinema may have peaked with Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster epic
The director’s adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek poem hit cinemas on Friday (July 17), quickly becoming his best-reviewed film. It stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who embarks on a treacherous journey home after the Trojan War.
Also on board are Tom Holland as his son Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, alongside Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth and Morton, who plays Circe.
Talking to Variety about the role, Morton said she cried when she got the call. “Then we had a get to know you chat, and I read the script. But I didn’t know if it would go any further. So when [Nolan] called and said, ‘Would you like to do it?’ I was blown away. He could have anybody on the planet, and he chose me.”
Morton also touched on ageism, an issue particularly glaring for women in the industry, and said being a part of the blockbuster epic felt like a rare opportunity.
“As you get older as an actress, roles like this are just few and far between,” said Morton, who has been acting since she was 12, earning Oscar nominations for Sweet and Lowdown and In America.
“I still work all the time, but predominantly in independent films or on television,” she said, adding: “It felt like a rebirth. I got to do what I do best for the best. To get the role felt like a second chance to be seen by the wider world.”
Nolan recently heaped praise on Morton’s performance, saying it earned her an on-set ovation that he hadn’t seen since Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. “This was a massive film and she is someone who comes in and changes the dynamic,” Nolan explained.
“In some weird way, the film lived or died over that character. She was the fulcrum. I’ve always admired Samantha’s work, she brings so much depth of thinking about her role, there are no limitations on her performance.
“After one of her takes, the crew gave her a great round of applause. I was talking with Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s producing partner and wife] afterwards and she remembered that the last time that had happened was with Heath Ledger on The Dark Knight.”
In a five-star review of the film, NME described The Odyssey “a big story made impossibly huge”, adding that it “might just be the director’s most accomplished film to date”.
Given it’s sheer scale, Nolan recently came out and said it’ll be “at least” three years until his next film after he “hit the limits of [his] own stamina” while shooting.
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