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Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey wraps its first week in theaters as a massive box office success. Those who weren't hanging on every casting detail about the sprawling epic may have been surprised to see a famous face onscreen within the film's first few minutes:10-time Grammy-nominated rapper Travis Scott.
Scott costars alongside celebrated lead actors Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, and Charlize Theron. And during a July 21 visit to The Tonight Show, Scott told Jimmy Fallon exactly how the rap superstar found out he'd been offered a role in the summer blockbuster.
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Who does Travis Scott play in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey?
Travis Scott plays the role of the bard. This storyteller recites the epic tale of Odysseus' journey, which we watch unfold onscreen.
It all started when Scott received a phone call from Nolan out of the blue. The two had previously worked together on Nolan's 2020 film Tenet, for which Scott contributed the soundtrack song "The Plan." (Scott would go on to make the song that plays over The Odyssey closing credits, "When I'm Home.")
"So I pick up, and he's like, 'Would you be interested in acting in a movie?','" Scott recalled, admitting he was confused. "I'm like, 'I mean, I guess,'" he continued.
"I didn't think it was for him. I thought it might've been for somebody else," Scott explained of his initial reaction. "He's like, 'Well, I'm working on this movie, I haven't really told you about it. But it's coming out soon, and I kinda want you to be in it.'"
Nolan's ask stopped Scott in his tracks.
"I'm like, 'Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. You know I make music,'" he recalled telling the acclaimed director.
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Travis Scott didn't know who was in The Odyssey cast ahead of filming
Scott told Fallon he was taken aback when he got to set and saw who the film's A-list stars were.
"I didn't know that it was going to be Anne Hathaway, Tom, and Robert Pattinson,” Scott admitted. "A bunch of amazing people. And I don't know what the f--k I'm doing."
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"Chris is an amazing director. Everybody made me feel comfortable," Scott added. "I was just glad to be there and to watch him."
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Fallon asked if it was difficult keeping his involvement in the movie under wraps.
"No ... but it was hard to get people to actually believe that I did this, you know?" Scott said, sharing a sweet photo of his extended family at a screening "I didn't want people to think I just got placed in this."
Why did Christopher Nolan cast Travis Scott in The Odyssey?
Nolan told Variety that he sees rappers as the modern-day continuation of the bardic storytelling tradition.
"I wanted somebody on-screen who would be reciting words and holding attention in the room in a very credible way, that we can relate to in today’s world, so that we would understand the drama and the emotion that comes from storytelling through poetry," Nolan told the outlet, adding, “If you view it in rarefied terms, if you elevate it and have some very formal version of what a bard in the palace of Ithaca might be, I would find that alienating.”
