To shoot the sea sequences in The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan avoided studio sets and digital backdrops as much as possible. Actors and crew spent months aboard the Draken, a wooden ship built in Norway using traditional techniques and capable of handling the open ocean. Filming took place in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Iceland, and in the North Sea, with the ship's real crew dressed as extras.
On a day in July 2025, off the Scottish coast, conditions were particularly rough. Nolan had considered postponing the work, but had been assured that going out to sea would be safe, if unpleasant. The waves soon made several supporting actors sick; they were filmed clinging to the railings and vomiting.
Rather than halt production, Nolan asked director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema whether they could keep rolling. The actors agreed, and the footage made it into the cut. The director recounted that the day — at once «fabulous and miserable» — produced some of his favourite shots in the film.
Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus, described the production as physically gruelling. There were no privileges to be had on the ship: during storms Nolan stood in the cold and rain alongside the rest of the crew.
The episode neatly sums up the method with which Nolan adapted Homer's poem. To show men broken down by a journey at sea he did not ask the actors to fake their suffering more convincingly: he put them on a real ship and waited for the sea to do the rest.