The Odyssey isn't just Travis Scott's first verse; it marks a significant leap in his acting career. For director Christopher Nolan, it was the rapper's musical background that led to his role as a bard in the upcoming movie.
Nolan explained to Time in an interview published on May 12, "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." While Scott, who shares kids Stormi, 8, and Aire, 4, with ex Kylie Jenner, hasn't said much about his appearance in the new film, he did have a scene-stealing moment in a January trailer for The Odyssey. In it, he silences a rowdy mess hall to tell Telemachus (Tom Holland) a story about his father Odysseus (Matt Damon)..
"A war, a man, a trick—a trick to break the walls of Troy," he booms, alongside images of the Trojan War. "It burning, screaming to the ground." Scott is no stranger to the screen; he's had small roles in the TV special Trolls: Holiday in Harmony and the film Aggro Dr1ft. And though this marks his first on-screen role in a Nolan movie, he previously made a song for the Oscar winner's 2020 movie Tenet.
"His voice became the final piece of a yearlong puzzle," Nolan told GQ at the time. "His insights into the musical and narrative mechanism [composer] Ludwig Göransson and I were building were immediate, insightful, and profound." And those storytelling skills will surely come in handy as he and the rest of The Odyssey's star-studded cast—which includes Damon, Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, and more—handle this ancient epic.
Given how beloved the Greek text is, Nolan admitted that many classicists may not be totally satisfied with his vision. Still, the Inception director asked them to give his forthcoming project a chance. "Hopefully they'll enjoy the film," he told Time, "even if they don't agree with everything."
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