Christopher Nolan’s take on The Odyssey is set to be one of the most epic films of the year, but don’t expect it to come with the sweeping orchestral score that’s typical of the historical movie genre.
In an interview with Time magazine, composer Ludwig Göransson says that he was instructed by Nolan not to use an orchestra, so had to come up with another way of approaching the soundtrack.
The Odyssey is set in ancient Greece, and tells the story of Homer’s incident-packed journey home from the Trojan war. “It’s not like the orchestra existed back then,” reasons Göransson. “It was a challenge and also an opening to try to make something unique.”
What to do, then? Göransson’s solution was to buy 35 bronze gongs of different sizes. Such instruments are period appropriate… though you can’t say the same about the synths that the composer layered them up with.
An ancient string instrument is also involved: “Chris had this idea of the sound of the lyre being the pluck of Odysseus’ bow,” says Göransson.
Viewers of the film will also note the appearance of rapper Travis Scott, who features as a bard. Again, there’s a reason for this: “I cast him because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap,” says Nolan.
The Odyssey will be Göransson’s third film with Nolan, having previously collaborated with him on Tenet and Oppenheimer. It’s set for release in cinemas on 17 July.
