Stories from the set

At the request of director Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon grew a beard for the role of Odysseus. The actor later said that he had never grown a beard before.

Christopher Nolan decided to make this film because he had always been a great admirer of the work of visual effects master Ray Harryhausen, and also because no high-budget films based on classical mythology had been made for some time.

During filming, approximately 640 km of film was used.

During filming, specially created IMAX camera housings were used that muffled the sound of the camera motor and thus made it easier to record conversations. Attempts to create similar housings for the filming of the science fiction action film Tenet were unsuccessful.

An IMAX camera holds only three minutes' worth of film. The camera assistant learned to reload the rolls so quickly that the actors had to wait only a very short time.

To film some scenes, the equipment—and in particular the IMAX cameras weighing nearly 200 kg—had to be lifted onto mountain slopes by helicopters.

In total, 5,300 costumes were sewn for the film. At certain points, more than 500 costume designers around the world were working on the film.

Several Trojan horses over 10 meters tall were built for filming. The horse, which was repeatedly moved along the shore, was badly damaged as a result, and a joke circulated among the crew that the horse would need nine lives, like a cat, to make it to the end of filming.

A draken (a replica of a Viking ship) built in Norway was used as Odysseus's ship. Before filming, the draken crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, and it took part in the filming with its entire crew.

The cyclops Polyphemus was a six-meter animatronic puppet. It was operated by Bill Irwin.