The Odyssey world tour landed in New York City on Tuesday night, shutting down Lincoln Square for a star-studded red carpet accompanied by soldiers and a massive Trojan Horse.
The 40-foot statue is much more than just a prop to promote the film, as it also plays a pivotal part in the story — Odysseus (played by Matt Damon) and his men hide inside for their secret attack to win the Trojan War, before they begin their long and treacherous journey home. Christopher Nolan and his team built the horse — along with many other major set pieces — practically for the film, and even saw the director himself climb inside.
John Leguizamo, who plays Odysseus’ trusted friend Eumaeus, told The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet that he first saw the Trojan Horse when “I was looking for Chris Nolan to meet him, and they told me he was inside the horse with 20 actors and the DP [Hoyte van Hoytema] and the IMAX camera. I couldn’t believe that. I was like, wow, this man is a leader. This man is not going to ask anything of you that he doesn’t attempt himself.”
Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, John Leguizamo, Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o, and Zendaya at the New York premiere.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Universal Pictures
Damon — who walked the NYC carpet alongside fellow stars Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Elliot Page and Jon Bernthal — has also spoken about shooting the Trojan Horse sequence during the press run, telling GamesRadar+ that Nolan didn’t have a plan on how they would film it until the day of.
Damon said that Nolan told the group they were “just going to cram in there and figure it out,” as the star recalled “that feeling of claustrophobia, that was all just developing organically… Hoyte was looking through the lens, and Chris was right next to him. They just built that in real time. It was so cool to see. If we had planned it out, I don’t think it would have had that same energy.”
The original horse from the film is currently on display outside the AMC Theater at Universal Studios Hollywood’s CityWalk. The Odyssey hits theaters on Friday.
Michaela Zee contributed to this report.