Samantha Morton doesn’t have a lot of screen time in “The Odyssey,” but when she shows up about halfway through the action epic, she commandeers the film. In an electrifying sequence that lasts roughly 10 minutes, Morton delivers a searing, richly textured performance as Circe, a sorcerer who transforms Odysseus’ men into pigs. In Homer’s epic, Circe is a beautiful temptress who toys with the soldiers for pleasure. In Morton’s hands, she’s a woman who has seen too much brutality and uses her magic as a safeguard against sexual violence.
“My family is a military family,” Morton says. “War is complicated. Men are complicated. Our relationships with men as wives, sisters, daughters are complicated. I drew on that. And there are people in my family that have been sexually assaulted and raped, and I thought of that as well.”
Performing the scene made her “take a good long look at the behavior of mankind and men in particular.”
When Christopher Nolan asked if she would meet about his next project, Morton couldn’t believe her luck.
“When I got the call, I started to cry,” Morton remembers. “Then we had a get to know you chat, and I read the script. But I didn’t know if it would go any further. So when he called and said, ‘Would you like to do it?’ I was blown away. He could have anybody on the planet, and he chose me.”
It was the kind of opportunity to work in a blockbuster alongside A-listers like Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway and a director like Nolan that Morton worried she’d never get again. She’s been a professional actress since she was 12, with a resume that includes everything from “Minority Report” to “The Whale” and “The Messenger.” She’s also earned Oscar nominations for “Sweet and Lowdown” and “In America.” But in recent years, Morton felt the opportunities to appear in major Hollywood movies were drying up.
“As you get older as an actress, roles like this are just few and far between,” the 49-year-old Morton says. “I still work all the time, but predominantly in independent films or on television.”
Filming the sequence where Circe lures the soldiers to her cabin, drugs them and then transforms them into swine using her bare hands was a thrill. Morton loved how open and collaborative Nolan was with the actors.
“He’s so hands on,” Morton says. “Chris just made sure I had everything I needed and the time I needed to do what I had to do. There was an unbelievable sense of freedom and trust, and then just the gentlest, kindest suggestions and guidance to get me where I had to go.”
The production presented some unique challenges. “The Odyssey” is shot entirely with Imax cameras, which are massive, noisy and weigh 300 lbs.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say the first take was…interesting,” she says. “The cameras are just immense and they’re right there in your face. So at first I was like, ‘Whoa!’ But eventually I forgot about it. It became like any other camera.”
After Odysseus gains the upper hand on Circe, she launches into a monologue about the cruelty of men and the way they can abuse their power. Morton relished the dialogue that Nolan had written for her to deliver.
“It’s so impactful because there’s no extra meat on it,” she says. “It’s just so concise and pure.”
The role serves as a reminder of Morton’s power as an actress, and if there’s any justice, it will lead to more meaty parts.
“It felt like a rebirth,” Morton says. “I got to do what I do best for the best. To get the role felt like a second chance to be seen by the wider world.”
It might also mean an invitation to the Oscars. “The Odyssey” opened on Friday, but Morton’s work is already generating awards buzz.
“If your peers feel that you’re worthy of an accolade that means something, but I’ve never been somebody that chased that kind of gratification,” Morton says. “I just love what I get to do for a living.”
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