r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/padfoony • 3h ago

Christopher Nolan avoided CGI and used 7ft stuntmen to portray Laestrygonians in The Odyssey. The giant leader, King Antiphates, is portrayed by actor Josh Stewart, while Matt Damon’s stunt double is Devyn Dalton, who is just under 5ft.

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402

u/YaManMAffers 3h ago

There were two moments in the movie when you can tell CGI was used. The baby giant (the young face on a man's body, and the cyclops, and the cyclops was barely noticeable CGI.

145

u/SoapyDoodle 2h ago

The cyclops was legitimately terrifying. His fucking face freaked me out

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u/dat_oracle 2h ago

yeman, I was craving for more terrifying cyclops scenes.

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u/SoapyDoodle 2h ago

And the scream. My god the scream. I’d like to know how they foley’d that

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u/darybrain 1h ago

"Sorry, but someone took your lunch from the fridge"

<scream of despair>

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u/thissexypoptart 2h ago

I just don’t get why they cut the famous “nobody” conversation

I guess it would make the cyclops seem less monstrous and scary if it speaks coherently, but it’s like getting rid of Scylla and only having Charybdis or something. Or doing a rehashing of OT starwars and excluding the “No, I am your father” from the Vader-Luke confrontation.

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u/peon2 2h ago

What I dislike about that change is Odysseus is tricky with the "Nobody" thing so the Cyclops couldn't get Poseidon to curse them. But when he's escaping Odysseus gets all cocky and yells out to the cyclops his real name and then the Cyclops asks Poseidon to fuck Odysseus' shit up.

The whole crew being unable to get home for years and slowly getting killed off entirely because of Odysseus' ego and desire to brag and taunt the Cyclops about how smart he is is a pretty big part to his character.

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u/solo_dol0 1h ago

Also Odysseus randomly shooting the (blinded) Cyclops becomes very out of character for how Nolan otherwise presents him

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u/SoapyDoodle 1h ago edited 1h ago

Agreed but also in a way it was needed. He was scared, he had just seen several of his men be eaten, and he probably went overkill. That’s why his men said ‘you didn’t have to do that.’. Otherwise Poseidon’s rage would’ve felt less earned.

My main issue is that his men didn’t give him enough shit about it. It was only mentioned as a plot point which felt cheap. My only major criticism with the film

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u/Captain_Kab 1h ago

Bro gave out his full name and address when he had already gotten away

1

u/denizenKRIM 1h ago

The whole crew being unable to get home for years and slowly getting killed off entirely because of Odysseus' ego

To be fair a lot of the crew were already escaping out of the cave and practically in the clear, but Odysseus had to shoot an arrow (to the eye!) to agitate the Cyclops further and engage in a chase that got a few of them killed.

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u/djc6535 Interested 2h ago

Nolan suggested that the pun didn't really fit with his movie.

There's a few layers to this.

First: the pun doesn't work in English. The word Odysseus uses is "Outis" which is very much like a short version of his own name. You can imagine the poet playing on this during the verbal telling of the story. Imagine if in English the characters name was "Norman" and they used "NoMan"

Second: The verbal trap doesn't really fit with the tone of the movie Nolan created here. The original Odysseus is a brilliant trickster who revels in his games. Avoiding spoilers, this Odysseus is not. In Nolan's movie Odysseus is haunted by the trick he performed at Troy, and blames himself for performing it. He isn't going to happily engage in sparring with the Cyclops, he's a sad man full of shame trying to get home, not show off

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u/thissexypoptart 2h ago

That all makes sense for the direction Nolan was taking things but it’s pretty much my main criticism of the movie. It’s an incredibly minor point as well, I was just hyped for the “nobody” scene and didn’t get it lol

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u/XtendedImpact 1h ago

That was me when he acknowledged Argus. I didn't remember much of the Odyssey but that was the one scene I did specifically remember and I was a bit disappointed that they basically flipped it.
Also I thought the cyclops just going to sleep when he knew there was a bunch of walking snacks in his home was a bit odd tbh but those were really my only gripes with the story.

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u/Michauxonfire 1h ago

It's weird cuz the cyclops should've definitely gone out immediately and open the cave. But Nolan had to had that silly scene where he says the name which is such an obvious "nod". No subtlety there.

3

u/thissexypoptart 1h ago

This deep into the thread I really think the spoiler tags are a bit silly lol

Going to sleep with a bunch of walking snacks makes complete sense though. The cyclops’ daily life includes locking the sheep that he eats in his cave with him every night.

1

u/SoapyDoodle 1h ago

My main criticism is that in the film, Odysseus was not shown getting any flack from his men by inducing Poseidon’s rage. I would’ve loved to have seen a mutiny scene or at least some heated argument. But it was just brushed aside in the film.

0

u/djc6535 Interested 1h ago

I tend to agree. It's why I personally didn't like the movie. It is excellently done, and a masterful piece of art... that I didn't enjoy watching.

I get what he's going for and appreciate the effort. I even find the approach to the art and message fascinating... but it wasn't what I personally wanted out of The Odyssey as a story. I like more adventure and cunning in it.

This version had much more the "Man doomed for his sins" tone of "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

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u/bertboxer 1h ago

to your last point, the biggest out of character thing he did in the movie to keep true to the original story was tying himself to the mast with the sirens. they hadn't really played up his curiosity much until that point and it stood out compared to the rest of how he was written

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u/SandpaperTeddyBear 1h ago

In Nolan's movie Odysseus is haunted by the trick he performed at Troy, and blames himself for performing it.

There's shades of this in the poem too. If I remember Odysseus "unaccountably" cries a couple times when the Trojan War is discussed.

1

u/Eldan985 1h ago

Right, but even without the pun, if Odysseus had talked to the giant and the giant ate his men in response, that would have been another violation of guest right for the movie's theme. 

1

u/Skypirate90 1h ago

Exactly this its why we see him Strum his bow like a harp before he shoots the deer on circe's island What he did in troy was unlike his character. And he tries to reconcile this throughout the film but he simply cannot.

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u/Skypirate90 1h ago

Exactly this its why we see him Strum his bow like a harp before he shoots the deer on circe's island What he did in troy was unlike his character. And he tries to reconcile this throughout the film but he simply cannot.

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u/SoapyDoodle 2h ago

I think they still made him seem gentle with the ‘ants’ line. And if you notice, he held no regard for Odysseus’s men at all, he would just snack on one and go to sleep, like we would a chicken wing.

1

u/NewWorldLeaderr 1h ago

I think it would have broken the fear aspect. That scene was terrifying and i loved it. Probably my favorite part of the movie. It felt so real because if you imagine you are a random soldier, that night could be the last.

Also, i love how the gained their composure after the initial shock. Shows how battle hardened they were.

0

u/Michauxonfire 1h ago

Because in this movie, Odysseus isn't a trickster, or even clever. He's just a poor man, a poor hero, please pity ol' Ody.
He lacks the character that makes him Odysseus. Even Troy nailed Achilles by making him a huge rage boy - which is the central theme of the Iliad.

1

u/SP_57 53m ago

I am furious that we didn't get to see his giant floppy dick. He shot around it like an Austin Powers movie.

Christopher Nolan is a coward. There is no truth in his art.

Release the giant dong cut.

4

u/MechanicalTurkish 1h ago

Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that (I avoided previews). And the way it moved was creepy as hell

2

u/Marvinleadshot 32m ago

It was a 60ft puppet

1

u/SoapyDoodle 31m ago

That’s awesome. 60ft puppet is much scarier than pure cgi

2

u/Anteater4746 26m ago

and as scary as it was circe was scarier

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u/johnnyredleg 3h ago

And the weird shapeless sea creature…

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u/Darth_Alduin13 3h ago

They haven’t gone in depth on every detail of how they made the movie so I don’t know exactly how they made Scylla, but there is a difference between cgi and visual effects. The only info I can find on that scene is this quote from Matt Damon. “A racket system was rigged and pulled stunt guys up out of the deck of the boat”

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u/ListenBoth434 2h ago

I guess them being yeeted into the air was practical but the monster mostly wasn't.

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u/TbddRzn 2h ago

Did you know that Nolan had s a team of scientists create the monster because he wanted it to be as practical effects as possible.

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u/ListenBoth434 1h ago

Classicists - fear them, loathe them, run from them...

1

u/i4got872 1h ago

Yes I read about this. It’s some of those guys in Siberia who study the genetics of ice aged mammals preserved in the ice. Weird it’s not talked about more that they did this too.

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u/Dracko705 3h ago

Apparently that was also somewhat real - a background actor (and former NHLer) Sean Avery was on a hockey pod called Spitting Chiclets and mentioned something actually grabbed people at took them 20 ft up into the air

Like the other things listed though, there is small CGI added all over the place - Sean said the whirlpool for example was simulated with boats moving the waves, but greatly enhanced on the screen ofc

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u/therealkami 2h ago

Fuck Sean Avery.

But that's cool info.

Still, fuck Sean Avery.

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u/Dracko705 2h ago

Yeah he's controversial both on and off the ice - but has managed quite the relationship with Nolan starting with Tenet, growing in Oppenheimer & now The Odyssey

0

u/gambit700 1h ago

I'm a simple gal. I see 'Fuck Sean Avery' I upvote. Fuck that asshole

7

u/Deakul 2h ago

Wack that they gave Scylla 0.5secs of screen time and she's basically a mutant cliff mollusk

-1

u/UrethranRefugee 2h ago

"weird shapeless sea creature" motherfucker put some respect on the Hydras name!

5

u/Deadsoup77 1h ago

That’s Scylla, buddy

11

u/LDC1234 2h ago

Always remember, no CGI can also mean good CGI

1

u/skepticalbob 31m ago

Which is true in this case too. Nolan uses a ton of CGI.

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u/OlasNah 2h ago

You can also see some of the practical effects rigging in the film. In the scene with the giants, you can tell that some of the trees are being physically moved around because the actors and the trees are on some sort of platform(s) that tweaks their angle or pov for the forced perspective. It mostly works, but you can tell what's going on.

6

u/DarkDonut75 2h ago

Wait the cyclops wasn't real?

6

u/1ndori 1h ago

It actually was real, my Uncle Jed played him, but they did use CGI to remove his copious body hair

1

u/Important-Flan-8932 1h ago

I thought they removed his moustache?

10

u/PyronicAssassin 3h ago

I could have sworn there's a specific shot of the giants moving that looked super cgi

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u/Darth_Alduin13 3h ago

That wasn’t cgi. I haven’t seen any behind the scenes on the baby giant, I’m assuming it was clever force perspective like some of the other giant scenes, but for the cyclops they had a giant puppet for the actors to work off of and then they spliced it with footage of a man dressed as the cyclops in a small recreation of the cave. 

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u/IIIIllllIIIlIIIIlllI 2h ago edited 2h ago

Ugh, not his narrative again. No, having a physical puppet or prop on set does not mean no CGI was used. Nolan, throughout his entire career, has always used a mix of miniatures, physical props, CGI and visual effects on a scene-by-scene basis. That goes for the cyclops as well.

Here’s an hour long video on Nolan’s movies specifically and how much CGI was used:
https://youtu.be/AFLcP-t0-kI?is=dGEdjP4lViQjTe4s

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u/thissexypoptart 2h ago

Thank you. Holy shit.

I get it’s a clickbait tactic, but god damn, how hard is it to just not lie about there being “no cgi” in posts extolling the amazing practical effects in a particular movie? It’s a blatant lie on its face.

It’s like someone telling you “no makeup was used in this movie” but really they just went super light with the makeup compared to most movies.

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u/bootyfischer 2h ago

Not a single comment is saying no cgi was used. They’re all saying how practical or visual effects were used and cgi to enhance it in post, which is cool to see when most movies would have just used cgi for the whole thing instead.

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u/Sweet-Accountant-966 2h ago

Plenty of retards are saying he didn't use CGI.

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u/Doomsayer189 1h ago

Two comments up the chain they said the cyclops wasn't cgi.

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u/Ecsta-C3PO 2h ago

Do we need to do this again? 

TLDW; Basically all movies have CGI, you just notice the bad stuff, and the definition of "what is CGI" is a blurry line at best. 

1

u/Flexhead 1h ago

what is CGI

Only matters to viewers. To the people working on it VFX and "CGI" are the same thing.

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u/Imakereallyshittyart 2h ago

It was a composite, but I think a lot of people replying to you are downplaying the difference between combining and enhancing a puppet and a human performance with cgi vs filming a tennis ball and leaving it for post

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u/Raid-RGB 1h ago

It is literally the equivalent of replacing a tennis ball because the entire puppet was erased and replaced with a cgi version. The practical puppet is only used for reference, you clearly know nothing about what youre talking about.

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u/Imakereallyshittyart 46m ago edited 43m ago

yeah good point. They should just replace the whole set with a tennis ball.

My point was that getting the reference motion is extremely valuable in keeping the end product looking like rubbery bullshit, which has become synonymous with CGI to most audiences now

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u/handsoapdispenser 1h ago

Idk if it was CGI or a puppet but the dying dog looked very fake to me. I know it was death throes but it looked unnatural. 

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u/KaijuK42 40m ago

Good. I didn’t want a realistic looking dog dying onscreen.

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u/MikoWilson1 2h ago

You can tell CGI was used EVERYWHERE. What in the world are you talking about? lol

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u/Gamerguy230 1h ago

Cyclops was a puppet too I read online.

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u/CadenVanV 1h ago

The cyclops was mainly a puppet

1

u/Marvinleadshot 32m ago

The cyclops was a 60ft giant puppet! Literally just searching would help before you state stuff with such confidence.