Nolan's 'The Odyssey': 5,300 Costumes, Six Countries, One Practical Cyclops

Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey" was built across six countries with over 5,300 handmade costumes and 2.1 million feet of 70mm Imax film — and nearly all of it practically. Production designer Ruth De Jong, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick and editor Jennifer Lame revealed the film's construction at the Middleburg Film Festival, in conversation with Variety's senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay, where the three received Variety's Creative Collaborators Award.

Nolan's process began in strict secrecy. "There are no scripts emailed, sent or discussed on any form of device," De Jong said. "Everything is in person, which I love about him." De Jong, who worked with Nolan on "Oppenheimer," read the script in three hours and asked about the parameters. "He said, 'There aren't.'" She added: "Working with Chris is the closest thing. It's equivalent to playing basketball with Kobe Bryant. He's truly the ultimate collaborator and coach. I knew we weren't going to fail, but I had no idea how we were going to do this practically."

Where was it built?

From the fall of Troy to Circe's isolated home to Odysseus' boat, De Jong's team worked in Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Scotland and the United States. The Troy set alone spanned 2.5 acres, totaling over 110,000 square feet. The search began in Turkey, but everything there "was so modern and contemporary and we just couldn't find anything that would work for us." She settled on Aït Benhaddou in Morocco: "If I could build everything practically from the ground up and then you have the entire existing town, that gives us that set extension — but in real life." Morocco, she noted, was one of five countries where crews were simultaneously building every set.

How did the costumes and the Cyclops come together?

Mirojnick said Nolan did not want a "sword-and-sandal movie. Not a Hollywood movie, not something we had seen before." Her team created over 5,300 costumes, starting with the armor: "I had to think of a thousand people in different armies, the Trojans and the Spartans." For Odysseus, linen proved the key fabric — "Linen gives you a great ground to age, distress and make into anything that you want" — weathered with sand, salt, wind, rain and black sand.

Lame, who edited Nolan's non-linear "Tenet" and "Oppenheimer," cut 2.1 million feet of Imax film. The Polyphemus cave scene posed the greatest puzzle. Nolan wanted the Cyclops physically present in the cave; after scouting Greek caves in 100-degree September heat, De Jong resisted building one — "they're expensive. And I was like, 'Surely we can do this practically.'" Bill Irwin played the Cyclops, with visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson's team providing temp eye work on set. "The emotion of Bill's character was so rooted in the eye," Lame said. The scene, short in the final cut, was initially much longer.

The beheading of Athena (Zendaya) during the Sacking of Troy came more easily — it was written into the script. "That cut was very important to him," Lame said of Nolan, crediting cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.

What about the horse?

Each version of the Trojan Horse stood approximately 35 feet tall, conceptualized as built from ship parts and shiplap — "They were master craftsmen of their time." The belly had to fit actors, an Imax camera, Van Hoytema and Nolan inside. On the beach, stunt coordinator George Cottle's team of 300 men dragged the horse by rope: "There was no machinery moving the horse — it was the actors." De Jong's verdict on the whole endeavor: "I don't know how we did it, but it happened."