Travis Scott expected another music conversation when Christopher Nolan called him about The Odyssey. Instead, the director offered him a role that would place the rapper in front of hundreds of extras and some of Hollywood’s most experienced actors.
Scott plays Phemius, a bard who recites the Song of Odysseus at the beginning of Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic.
Nolan made the assignment deliberately difficult by scheduling Scott’s close-up early and asking him to command a banquet hall filled with performers including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland.
“I threw him into the deep end,” Nolan told Variety, explaining that he wanted to test whether Scott could hold the room’s attention through spoken poetry.
Scott Thought Nolan Wanted to Discuss Music
Scott and Nolan had previously collaborated on “The Plan,” the end-credits song from the director’s 2020 film Tenet. When Nolan’s name appeared on his phone again, Scott assumed the call might concern another recording or an invitation to one of his concerts.
During a July 21 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Scott recalled being surprised when Nolan asked whether he wanted to act. He initially wondered whether the director remembered that his main profession was music.
Scott had previously appeared in Gully and Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, but neither role approached the scale of Nolan’s production. He told Fallon that he expected to appear briefly with a few extras, not share scenes with Hathaway, Holland, Robert Pattinson and other members of the ensemble.
“I don’t know what the f— I’m doing,” Scott recalled thinking, according to PEOPLE. He credited Nolan and the cast with making him comfortable enough to complete the unfamiliar assignment.
Nolan Put His Close-Up at the Start of the Day
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Scott’s opening sequence required him to stand on a table and perform for a crowded hall while the movie’s characters listened to his account of Odysseus and the Trojan War. “I was nervous as f—,” Scott told Variety. He remembered a camera positioned close to his face, Nolan watching from nearby and the other actors remaining completely focused on the scene.
The rapper said the atmosphere felt far removed from one of his concerts or parties. “No, this was some serious s—,” he recalled, according to Entertainment Weekly. Nolan confirmed that the pressure was intentional. He asked Scott to begin reciting the Song of Odysseus and maintain the attention of a room containing movie stars and hundreds of background performers.
Nolan said Scott’s career gave him the authority needed to portray a storyteller whose words could silence a crowded room. The director wanted contemporary viewers to recognize the emotional force that oral poets would have carried for ancient audiences. “This story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,” Nolan previously said while explaining the casting.
His Grandmother Had Made Him Read ‘The Odyssey’
Scott already had a personal connection to the story. His grandmother, an English professor, assigned him The Odyssey as summer reading and required him to write an essay about it.
Scott admitted that he initially relied on CliffsNotes and was punished after lying about finishing the book. He eventually read the epic, making Nolan’s invitation especially satisfying for his family.
His involvement expanded beyond acting. Scott joined James Blake, composer Ludwig Göransson and Nolan on “When I’m Home,” the song that closes the movie and its soundtrack, according to Pitchfork.
After Scott was cast, his grandmother reminded him why she had assigned the book years earlier: “See? That’s why I made you read that book, now you’re in this movie.”