Explained Christopher Nolan Film The Odyssey

How Christopher Nolan built a giant 60-foot Cyclops to bring Polyphemus to life in The Odyssey

Now that's dedication

Hebe Hancock
21st July 2026, 11:55
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Christopher Nolan has never exactly been known for taking the easy route, so it probably won’t surprise anyone that he didn’t want The Odyssey‘s Cyclops to feel like a standard CGI monster.

Universal

Instead, the director built a huge practical setup so the cast could react to something that actually felt enormous on set. Rather than filming inside a studio, the entire sequence was shot in Nestor’s Cave in Greece, where Matt Damon’s Odysseus and his crew stumble across the giant Polyphemus while searching for food on their journey home from the Trojan War.

After following a sheep into a cave, the group quickly realises they’ve walked straight into the home of the terrifying, man-eating son of Poseidon.

To help the actors understand just how huge Polyphemus was supposed to be, Empire revealed Nolan commissioned what it described as “a towering 60-foot contraption” for the shoot.

Explaining the thinking behind the sequence, Nolan told Empire: “Everything about the Cyclops sequence is aimed at trying to imagine: What would this be like in real life? Not approaching it from a storybook or cartoony point-of-view, but really trying to be in there with Odysseus and his men. It’s a horrifying situation.”

The monster itself is played by Bill Irwin, whose background in physical theatre, choreography and clowning helped create an unsettling performance that apparently got under everyone’s skin. According to Matt Damon, “Bill was doing voices and noises and was with us that entire time.”

Nolan also wanted Polyphemus to feel like more than just a giant creature.

Speaking to the Associated Press, he explained: “A monster is never just a monster. You have to look beyond that. You have to look for what this creature is as an individual, and that’s what Bill was able to bring to the soul of the Cyclops.”

Universal

Filming inside the real cave also came with plenty of challenges. Instead of working on a controlled soundstage, the crew dealt with swarms of bees around the entrance, tight shooting conditions and, thanks to the 40 real sheep used in the sequence, a cave that reportedly smelled exactly how you’d imagine.

Using carefully controlled lighting, Nolan  often keeps the Cyclops hidden in darkness, only revealing the monster when Odysseus and his trapped men are finally forced to see him, making the entire scene play more like a horror film than a fantasy adventure.

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Featured image credit: Universal