If you were among the many moviegoers who experienced Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey over its opening week, you also saw and heard the work of CalArts alums Bill Irwin (Theater 72) and Jodie Landau (Music BFA 15). The adaptation of Homer’s epic debuted July 17 at No. 1, earning $124.5 million domestically and $139.6 million internationally for a $264.1 million worldwide opening weekend, the largest global opening of Nolan’s career.
The film also earned an “A” CinemaScore and, as of July 23, holds a 94% critics score and 97% verified audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Irwin portrays Polyphemus, the Cyclops who traps Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his crew inside a cave. The production combined Irwin’s performance with practical and visual effects, including a towering 60-foot contraption constructed to give the actors a sense of the monster’s scale.
“Bill was doing voices and noises and was with us that entire time,” Damon told Empire of filming the sequence.
Nolan credited Irwin with giving the mythical creature depth beyond its fearsome appearance.
“You have to look for what this creature is as an individual, and that’s what Bill was able to bring to the soul of the Cyclops,” Nolan told The Associated Press.
An actor, clown, playwright, director and choreographer, Irwin attended the CalArts School of Theater in the early 1970s. In 1984, he became the first performance artist to receive a five-year MacArthur Fellowship. He later won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Irwin previously worked with Nolan on Interstellar, voicing and physically operating the robot TARS.
Landau served as a choir contractor and conductor and also sang on composer Ludwig Göransson’s score. At Nolan’s request, Göransson avoided a traditional orchestra, building the film’s sound around instruments and materials including the aulos, lyre and 35 bronze gongs.
“Truly the greatest honor and distinct pleasure to conduct/contract the choir and to sing on @ludwiggoransson’s exceptionally glorious score,” Landau wrote on Instagram after attending an IMAX 70mm screening.
Landau’s film work also includes vocal performances for Avatar: The Way of Water, Avatar: Fire and Ash and the 2025 live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon.
A composer, vocalist and percussionist, Landau is a member of Roomful of Teeth and Los Angeles music collective Wild Up. At CalArts, Landau studied percussion and performer-composition.
The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.
