How was the Cyclops scene in The Odyssey filmed?

“How can we take something that looks so fantastic and make you believe it?”

In this key passage of The OdysseyUlysses and his companions find themselves stuck in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, who devours several Greek soldiers before having his only eye gouged out. In retaliation, he implores his father, Poseidon the god of the sea, to punish them.

As promised, Christopher Nolan shot this scene without digital special effects (or almost). The shots took place in Nestor’s Cave, located in Messinia in Greece, in March 2025. Guest of Amy Poehler’s podcast, Matt Damon says:

“It’s really crazy when you realize we filmed it in a real cave. This is not a film set. We had to walk on foot to this cave. The technicians transformed it into a set. Chris said, ‘No, we have a 60 foot tall puppet.’ He uses as few special effects as possible. They found all the ways so that we could film almost everything like that.”

In this photo taken behind the scenes of the shoot, we can indeed see this gigantic animated doll with cables attached to the wrists to make its arms move. His plans were mixed with those of Bill Irwin, who played the Cyclops covered in prosthetics and makeup. “Bill made voices and noises, he was with us throughout the filming.”describes Matt Damon to Empire.

Bill Irwin is an actor, puppeteer and clown who previously collaborated with Christopher Nolan on Interstellarwhere he notably animated the TARS robot. We also saw him in Hot Shots! (1991) The Grinch (2000) alongside Jim Carrey, or Rachel gets married with Anne Hathaway (2008). A great stage actor, he also won a Tony Award for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

In addition to not using CGI, the use of a real actor allowed Christopher Nolan to make Polyphemus both terrifying and human. At the beginning of the sequence, we see him as a cannibalistic giant. But, when Ulysses and his comrades leave, we wonder if they are not the monsters. An approach inspired by the work of Guillermo Del Toro. Christopher Nolan (via Associated Press):

“I learned from my friend Guillermo Del Toro that a monster is never just a monster. Something he applied extensively to his own work. It’s really about finding the individual behind it. And thus present a more real and more threatening character. The Cyclops is a real individual, a real character that Bill was able to create with the help of the film teams.”

Matt Damon was dubbed by a woman in this spectacular scene from The Odyssey

In his note of intent, the filmmaker presented this technical and narrative challenge as follows:

“How can we take something that looks so fantastic and make you believe it? The advantage I had by embarking on The Odyssey is that I gained a lot of experience on different types of technique and how to put things on screen, whether it be visual effects, practical effects, stunts, filming locations, building sets, etc. We had to use everything to The Odysseyand in particular for the Cyclops. All the tips possible.”

The Odyssey is currently in theaters.