If you have seen The Odyssey, you may be surprised to learn that Christopher Nolan didn't use CGI to bring the movie's array of mythical characters and creatures to life, even in the pig scene.
Warning, the following contains spoilers for The Odyssey, so turn back now if you haven't seen it yet, but make sure to read our spoiler-free The Odyssey review first.
On their journey home from the Trojan War, Odysseus and his men stop off at a lush island. As Odysseus goes off to hunt, Eurylochus and the rest of the men stumble upon a house inhabited by a woman named Circe. As the men tuck into her cursed food, Circe, who just so happens to be a witch, turns them into pigs.
Seeing the witch sculpt the soldiers' faces and bodies is pretty wild, but what is even wilder is that this scene was created practically, not using CGI, but a lot of movie magic. "I just have to say there's no CGI, and everything is real and in camera. That's movie magic. There's always been ways that movie magic can deceive us in a beautiful way," said Circe star Samantha Morton in an interview with Vanity Fair.
So how did they do it? The team built pig animatronics that Morton could move and manipulate with her hands. Then, clever editing and camera angles make it look like Morton is really morphing the men into pigs. An Instagram post shared by chief lighting technician and long-term Nolan collaborator Adam Chambers shows the pig head animatronic on the table. The post was deleted, but has been reshared on Nolanarchive. Check it out below.
Aside from the big scene, the director also brought the Cyclops to life using a giant puppet which was strung up in a very real cave in Greece. As for the Laestrygonians, the giant attack scene was achieved using force perspective and stunt performers of polar opposite heights. The director also shot the majority of the movie on location over 91 days in six countries, including Morocco and Greece.
Morton recalled seeing Circe's house for the first time. "I arrived on set, I was like, 'Where did you find this place? This is incredible.' And they were like, 'No, this is a set.' I was floored. I've been on a lot of movie sets, and that says a lot if I thought it was a real building. And I did have my glasses on, so I wasn't being stupid."
The Odyssey is out in cinemas now. For more, check out our beginner's guide to The Odyssey and The Odyssey ending explained, and find out where the new movie places in our ranking of the best Christopher Nolan movies.
