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Spoiler alert! We're discussing important details about the plot of “The Odyssey” (in theaters now). Stop reading if you haven’t seen it yet and don’t want to know what happens.
Samantha Morton has always loved horror.
Growing up, the English actress savored “The Hills Have Eyes” and “An American Werewolf in London,” and delighted in the eerie puppets of Jim Henson’s “The Dark Crystal.”
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“I watch ‘The Exorcist’ many times a year. I just find it extraordinary,” Morton, 49, says. “Sometimes the things that seem so innocent are actually the most terrifying, both in life and in cinema.”
That’s certainly an apropos way of describing her witchy new role in “The Odyssey,” Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster retelling of Homer’s epic poem. After landing on the verdant island of Aeaea, long-lost king Odysseus (Matt Damon) goes off to hunt for food while his famished crewmates stumble upon the house of an unassuming farmer named Circe (Morton).
But when she offers them stew, the ravenous men alarmingly can’t stop eating it. And slowly, Circe begins to massage and mold Odysseus’ crew into literal pigs. It’s quite easily the most unsettling scene of Nolan’s career, but one that Morton infuses with aching pathos.
“I didn't turn your men into anything!” Circe tells a mystified Odysseus upon discovering the swine. “Look at them! This is who they are! … They've raped and pillaged across the world for you. And you think that's against their nature?”
For nearly three millennia, readers of Homer’s “Odyssey” have described Circe as an enchantress, a nymph, a goddess and a trickster. But Morton sees her as an “Everywoman,” merely wanting to protect herself from the unchecked desires and violence of men.
“Christopher managed to condense her down to something that was so unbelievably pure,” Morton says. “I could recognize my mother, my sister, my daughter, my female friends. She felt a bit like, for want of a better word, the girl next door. We underestimate normal people.”
How Samantha Morton found Circe's bewitching moves in 'The Odyssey'
Morton has worked as an actor for the last 35 years, starring in “Minority Report” and AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” and earning two Oscar nominations for “Sweet and Lowdown” and “In America.” But she has rarely been offered projects on the scale of “The Odyssey,” let alone with Hollywood giants such as Nolan.
“I got a phone call saying that Sir Christopher Nolan wanted to meet and I actually wept,” Morton recalls. “I’m very lucky. I’ve had the same team since I was 19. My agents work incredibly hard in trying to tell people about me because I do a lot of independent cinema. They work tirelessly to try and get me in a room with some of these heavy hitters and it doesn’t always happen.”
Morton says she is not one to “psychoanalyze” her characters, and she opted not to research what Homer scholars have written about Circe through the years. Instead, she wanted to feel out the character in the moment, which came down largely to her hypnotic movements. Circe kneads the men’s faces like a potter, and pulls deep from their throats as if she is helping to birth a calf.
“With Circe, I felt that the location where we were filming had huge power,” Morton says. “My ancestors are Scottish on my dad's side and I have a lot of family that live in Scotland, so it just felt ancient. We talk about being one with nature and animals, and light and dark, and she was just all of it. The movement came from her being really grounded.”
Raised in the English foster-care system, Morton joined a drama group for working-class teens and even spent a summer as a magician’s assistant. Because of that, she was ecstatic to learn that Nolan would be using practical effects such as puppetry and prosthetics during Circe’s spellbinding sequence.
“It’s proper movie magic,” Morton says. “It’s all in camera; what you see is real. So this was a dream job for me – I got to do all the things that I love.”
Why 'The Odyssey' feels like a 'rebirth' for Samantha Morton
Although awards season is still months away, many Oscar pundits have already predicted Morton’s scene-stealing performance will earn her a supporting actress nomination.
“She was so locked in, she transported both of us," Damon says. "It was so thrilling to do those scenes with her. We all knew we were watching something special.”
Nolan has shared that Morton earned a spontaneous standing ovation from the cast and crew while filming. He said the last time that happened on one of his movies was for Heath Ledger as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.”
That comparison “is very emotional,” Morton says. “Heath was somebody I admired. I was meant to work with him on a project and it didn't come through, but we spent time together. It’s a bit like Philip Seymour Hoffman – there’s some actors that are just incredibly special human beings. So I’m obviously moved that has been said, but it’s also a reflection of how much the crew care about what we’re all doing.”
For Morton, the most meaningful review has come from her 18-year-old daughter, Edie, who recently saw "The Odyssey" and "was blown away by it." After decades of career highs and lows, the film has reminded the actress to keep her chin up.
“It feels like a rebirth, like, ‘Don’t give up!’ ” Morton says. “You can have lulls; I’ve had times where I can’t pay my mortgage or I don’t know if I’m going to work again because my physicality isn't right or I can't afford to do the things that other actors can do. I just keep working and I feel really, genuinely blessed. Hopefully this will mean I can get other jobs.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Samantha Morton waited decades for a role like Circe in ‘The Odyssey’
