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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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