{"id":6871,"date":"2026-07-23T15:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?p=6871"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:08:10","slug":"um-the-way-christopher-nolan-filmed-the-odysseys-giant-laestrygonians-is-genuinely-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2026\/07\/23\/um-the-way-christopher-nolan-filmed-the-odysseys-giant-laestrygonians-is-genuinely-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"Um, the way Christopher Nolan filmed The Odyssey’s giant Laestrygonians is genuinely wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christopher Nolan<\/a> has made a big deal about keeping The Odyssey<\/a> as practical as possible, and it turns out that even the terrifying giant Laestrygonians<\/a> weren’t brought to life with loads of CGI.<\/p>\n

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Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan War, he and his crew stop at a series of islands looking for supplies. One of those pit stops quickly turns into a nightmare when the men wander into a towering forest and come face-to-face with the Laestrygonians, a race of enormous giants who completely dwarf the crew on screen.<\/p>\n

Watching the film, it genuinely looks like the creatures are several times taller than Odysseus. But according to Matt Damon, the effect came from an old-school filmmaking technique rather than visual effects.<\/p>\n

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Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Speaking to Happy Sad Confused, Damon explained: “When we did the force perspective stuff with the Laestrygonians, there were these stuntmen who were all 7 feet (tall). Then they got stuntmen who were under 5 feet, and so my double was a woman. So there are these shots in the movie where you see these giants looming over me.”<\/p>\n

It’s basically the same forced perspective trick famously used throughout The Lord of the Rings, where carefully positioned cameras make characters appear dramatically different in size without relying on CGI.<\/p>\n

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X<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Damon also revealed that because of the height difference needed for the illusion, his stunt double was actually stunt performer Devyn Dalton.<\/p>\n

She has since shared a behind-the-scenes look on Instagram showing the performers who played the Laestrygonians, and the contrast between the towering seven-foot stunt performers and the much shorter doubles is honestly pretty unbelievable.<\/p>\n

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I really thought the silver giants were CGI but nolan used real 7ft men, and that wasn’t even Matt Damon, it was a 5ft woman \ud83d\ude2d pic.twitter.com\/HGWP7ilMf9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fahhh (@yowtfahhh) July 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n