John Leguizamo Has Never Been as Vulnerable as in ‘The Odyssey’: “It Was So Intense for Me”

John Leguizamo Corey Nickols/Getty Images for IMDb

[This story contains spoilers for Christopher Nolan‘sThe Odyssey.]

John Leguizamo has made all kinds of movies and TV series over his 40-year-long acting career, shining in recurring collaborations with the likes of Baz Luhrmann (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!) and Jon Favreau (Chef, The Mandalorian). But for the Colombian native, it’s often required a director seeing him outside the box to let him show what he can do. His solo performances on stage, particularly shows like Latin History for Morons and Freak, have won him Emmys and Tonys and widespread acclaim — and reminded that there’s far more to the Tisch alum than the big screen has often held. “It’s as if, because I’m a Latin man, I always have to play the villain or the aggressor or a perp,” he says.

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But Christopher Nolan saw something very different in Leguizamo, seeking him out for one of the most significant roles in his take on The Odyssey. The Oscar-winning director cast the actor as Eumaeus, the faithful servant of Odysseus (Matt Damon) coming to terms with his grief over his master’s prolonged absence. While he waits and holds out hope, though, he cannily operates behind the scenes, counseling Odysseus’ son Telemachus (Tom Holland) on how to step up, and maneuvering as best he can to ensure that Odysseus’ wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and family are not ruined by the chaos infiltrating Ithaca.

What results is a delicate, moving, heartbreaking performance from Leguizamo that emerges as the heartbeat of the film — particularly when Odysseus returns home in disguise, and a disempowered Eumaeus lets all of the emotions bubble to the surface. He is the kind of guy who feels very close to Leguizamo, but he hasn’t gotten the chance to put on screen. He spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about what it felt like to finally do so.

You’ve been traveling around the world with this movie for the last few weeks. What has the rollout been like?

Oh my God, insane. It was the biggest premiere I’ve ever been a part of in my entire life. Second closest was Moulin Rouge at Cannes. That was spectacular, but this was even, I don’t know — I mean, there was a Trojan Horse in London, the biggest stars in the world all lined up. You could barely fit us all in one lineup. They had to make us do prom-style, sideways. “Don’t stand full front. You have to spoon next to each other.” And it’s not even all of us! It was different days when different folks were available.

I love the more intimate behind-the-stage, behind-the-spotlight scenes. Dinner with Lupita [Nyong’o], Charlize [Theron], Emma Thomas and Nolan and my wife — that was sweet. Seeing Matt Damon and his kids at the hotel, just hanging out after an exhausting day, having a lovely time with his posse — and he’s got a posse. That was really cool. And then seeing Zendaya and Tom [Holland], those moments were really nice, where people are just being themselves.

John Leguizamo is Eumaeus in ‘The Odyssey.’ Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal

You have one of the biggest roles in the film. There was so much hype around The Odyssey to begin with, so how would you describe the journey, from getting cast to seeing it for the first time?

Who would’ve thought that, at my age, things could get better? All the highlights you thought were highlights are no longer highlights — I mean, this is the zenith. It definitely feels like it. I’m such a lover of artists and auteurs and chasing the impossible. I love that journey, that impossible journey that artists take. It started from the script, which was phenomenal. Meeting Chris, just hanging out with him for a two-hour lunch before he offered me the part and hearing him tell me the tales of his life. He told me all about his life and his aspirations and struggles. It was such a beautiful sharing. I was like, “Wow, this man is so present and so vulnerable.”

When I saw the movie, it was my wife and I at Nolan’s favorite theater, the Lincoln Square 13. I knew it was Row G that’s supposed to be optimal, so we sat in Row G. It was just us and maybe four other people in the entire theater. It was a very, very empty experience at the beginning. Then all of a sudden it starts and you’re like, “Whoa, it’s so massive. The score is so unbelievably beautiful.” My wife doesn’t cry at movies and she gripped my hand and she was weeping and then I was weeping. I wasn’t sure if I was weeping because of her or because of Matt Damon’s incredible monologue at the end where he has remorse over his whole entire life that hit me so hard. It’s the beauty of what Chris did.

I’ve never seen you play a character like this before. Why do you think he thought of you for it?

I don’t know. I don’t know either! My wife has been saying that lately when we’ve been sitting down at meals. It’s as if, because I’m a Latin man, I always have to play the villain or the aggressor or a perp. So for him to think of me that way, it was fascinating. I didn’t ask him. It wasn’t a question that came to me. At lunch, I didn’t want to like, “Oh no, you’re making a mistake.” (Laughs) It’s so unusual, but I feel like Eumaeus is more me than a lot of things I’ve been in. Chris sold it to me, as if he had to sell me anything, but he said, “He’s the most loyal character in Western literature.” Loyalty to me is such a huge, huge virtue for me. If I could be a sociologist, it’s also such a huge part of Latin culture to be loyal to family, loyal to a friend. It’s loyalty above everything else.

What does that do for you, to play somebody who feels a little bit closer to you? How did that inform the way you played Eumaeus?

Well, the emotions come easier. Choices come easier. When I was younger, I also liked playing things that were as far away from me as possible because I thought that’s what real acting was, the real challenge. But as you get older, it is so much nicer to be in your own shoes and to mine the depths of the subtleties of all of your life experience. I was able to call upon that for this role. I didn’t realize how emotional the role was until I was in the location. What I’m talking about with Eumaeus, waiting for my master to come back, only living for my master, I don’t have a family or anything — I just live for him and teach his son, take care of his dog, My whole life has been of service to him. Then having a breakdown like that when [Odysseus] is back, it was so intense for me. I’ve never really been that vulnerable. Working with Chris Nolan, he’s so present because he stands right behind the camera, old-school. He operates in terms of chasing the acting, the moments, the beats, the intimacy of things. You get a chance to really be with him and you feel really seen. I was able to tap into these really difficult, painful emotions from the depth of my soul.

It’s interesting to hear you describe that level of vulnerability. Thinking about how a movie like this is made and these epic sets, working within the IMAX format — I’d assume that’d be competing with the internal work.

Right. It’s so brilliant [and] because Chris goes there. That’s what gives us all courage — he goes there. He’s inside the [Trojan] Horse. He doesn’t have to do that. How many directors do you know who are at Video Village? He’s standing out there. When I started shooting, my stuff was on top of a 900-foot cliff with the winds crashing on you. Everything’s poisonous on top of the hill; if you break the plants, the seed can blind you. And already I was blind because of my contacts. You could fall to your death, but you’re not going to because we had incredible stunt crews. We were always safe, but these places were inaccessible. So this grand scope, 360 views of the Mediterranean with winds — and then boom, we go into my shack and I’m having a fever dream in this private moment with a 300-pound camera over my face and Nolan’s right behind it.

And you know Homer was blind, right? I’m blind in the movie as well. I never asked him, but I thought that Chris was conflating Eumaeus with Homer in a way…. I love the idea. They were specially fabricated lenses that were hand-painted and they did cataracts in both my eyes. One is really cataract and the other one’s partially cataract.

Eumaeus is not so much of a presence in Homer’s The Odyssey. Did you go back to the text, or if not, how did you develop Eumaeus beyond the actual script?

I was doing as much research as I could on Wikipedia online about Eumaeus and what he represented, and then looking at the Greek vases, Greek sculptures, to see if there was any clue there for me on the behavior. There’s not that much in The Odyssey, the book, about Eumaeus. That was fascinating how Chris concocted this character.

Benny Safdie, Lupita Nyong’o, Leguizamo, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas at the London premiere. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Universal Pictures

The character is blind, as you mentioned, and you’re also aged up considerably. It’s a pretty transformative part for you. What was that like?

When he told me I was going to be older and I was going to have aging makeup, being the method actor that I am, I started studying older people and how they moved. When he told me I was going to be sight-impaired, I was like, “OK. Oh, wow.” I have a high school friend who’s legally blind, so I studied her a lot. We hung out. Then I started doing my method: going around the house with all the lights off, trying to get from one place to the other at night, trying to walk around and see what is it that you do to protect yourself and how do you memorize furniture and spaces, as my friend told me about. Then the hair, Chris and I both don’t believe in wigs. I have a very hard time with wigs on actors. It always looks like it’s floating for some reason. So we bleached the hell out of my scalp for five hours one day, five hours the next. The makeup took six hours the first day because it was really beautifully laid on by Luisa Abel, who’s incredible. And I have bags: They squeeze my throat and put glue and squeeze my face and put glue, which stretches all my skin. Then age spots. Just the craziness of it all. And I couldn’t see! I couldn’t really see.

What does it mean, to you, to be a method actor?

Well, lots of research, lots of putting yourself in the experiences of the character you’re creating, talking to people. Then having a real experience — not imitating an experience, but going through something. I think Nolan was watching a method actor like me for the first time and he was intrigued by what I was doing because I had to work myself into a mood. I’m talking to myself, jumping up and down, hitting myself, yelling, crying. Then I’m in the scene and I’m going through crazy things and he’s watching it. He was fascinated by what it takes. Everybody does a little method, but definitely it’s something that I really believe in because it’s what changed my acting for me.

Did you have a favorite day on set?

My favorite day was when I did my fever-dream scene after I’d done all my method preparation and I was freezing — because it was freezing up there. I’m in basically a mini dress and it was so cold, and Nolan saw that I was shivering, he took off his coat and put it over me. Matt was there; he cracked me up. He said, “I’ve been in the ocean for six months being whipped around and you give him the coat!” So that must have meant something.

The bond between you and Matt is so core to the movie and your performance. What did that look like off-screen and then putting that on camera?

We’ve stayed close. We exchanged numbers. He came to see my play, which was such a beautiful gesture. We went to the World Cup together to see Colombia play Portugal in Miami. He’s a really genuine, regular, cool guy, and he’s funny. He’s funny as fuck. So that’s a big plus. I love funny people.

You mentioned earlier sometimes being typecast in various roles. One of the exciting things about this movie is it does feel unbelievably representative in breaking down a lot of casting barriers, especially for period movies, right?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, there was a time where all period movies were just all white and all British-sounding. (Laughs) It’s so refreshing to hear this period piece with American accents. I loved it. I felt like, “Oh my God, it doesn’t make it sound stereotypical.” It just feels different. It feels more accessible, feels more real. I don’t know why. And then the casting, I mean, it’s like Lin-Manuel [Miranda] showed us colorblind casting is a powerful thing. Look at that, the biggest hit in Broadway history. Do you know what I mean? It made it so vital, so relatable, so fresh. And we were all around back then. It wasn’t like we just appeared out of nowhere as a spontaneous generation.

I was so excited by this opportunity and the beauty of being a part of a work of art. I feel like this movie is a work of art. Chris Nolan’s magnum opus. To be a part of something like that, of a master, craftsman, innovator, a visionary — it’s just so incredible that he saw something in me that would help him bring his dream to fruition. It’s an incredible compliment that I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. I don’t know, I feel so arrived, in a way.

What do you mean by that?

I’ve landed. All my gifts and everything, all my talent and all my hard work, have brought me to this place.