When filmmaker Christopher Nolan decided to adapt The Odyssey to the big screen, he wanted the movie not only to look like ancient Greece but to sound like it too. So when he approached composer Ludwig Göransson about the score to the picture, out July 17, he challenged the Oscar winner to source authentic instruments. A new featurette, premiering here, shows how Göransson created a Homeric score with a lyre, an aulos, and instruments made of bronze since the setting was the Bronze Age.
“Chris had mentioned early that he was interested in aulos,” Göransson says in the short film of an instrument that looks a bit like twin clarinets. “He was interested in lyre. The aulos was an ancient Greek instrument. It was the most popular rock star instrument for a thousand years.”
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“This is a replica of an aulos,” musician Callum Armstrong says. “The original dates from between the sixth century and the fifth century B.C. We don’t have any surviving reeds. So I worked with two other people, and we spent a while trying to work out and figure out how this bit worked at the top. We had to read lots of ancient source material and try and work out how they did it.” Another musician, Rosa Fragorapti, also demonstrates how to play a lyre, which they had to figure out from looking at old urns and other materials.
The Odyssey is Nolan’s nearly three-hour adaptation of Homer’s epic poem, in which the hero, Odysseus, journeys home from the Trojan wars, facing mythical creatures like cyclops, sirens, and the mystical Calypso. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, and the rest of the cast includes Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, and Elliot Page, among many others.
The movie marks the third time Göransson has scored a Nolan picture, following Oppenheimer (2023) and Tenet (2000). Göransson won an Oscar for Oppenheimer, and has also won Academy Awards for his work on Black Panther and Sinners.
“I think Chris has a way of pulling you in when you’re watching his films,” Göransson says in the featurette. “The music is definitely a very, very unique world. And I hope people are able to be part of it and fully immerse themselves in this world.”
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