When John Leguizamo signed on to play Eumaeus, the loyal, visually impaired swineherd in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey‘, he knew the role would require a big physical commitment.
However, he didn’t expect that for 12 to 14 hours a day, he would be completely blind. He could not see his phone, read a script, or even find the bathroom without someone taking him there.
The Grueling Reality of Wearing Cataract Lenses for Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
In a recent interview, the veteran actor talked about the hard reality behind his performance in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic, which is in theaters now. To become Eumaeus, Leguizamo wore custom-painted contact lenses made by a specialist to copy the look of cataracts. They blurred his vision so much that he was almost totally blind. The whole thing made it hard to tell where the acting stopped, and real life began.
“Not being able to see for 12 to 14 hours a day. Like, I couldn’t see my phone, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t call,” Leguizamo told Entertainment Tonight. He gave up a lot for the part. “I could not see. I had to be taken to the bathroom, I had to be brought back. I had to be taken to eat,” he said.
But the loneliness was maybe the hardest part. When he was left alone on set and could not see, he had no choice but to go into his own mind. “And then when I was alone, I just had to be inside my head because that’s all I had,” he shared. “Too much time with my own thoughts. It’s a dangerous thing!”
Leguizamo’s Extreme Transformation and Three and a Half Hours in Makeup
The contact lenses were only one piece of a very extreme change. He had to find a “zen place” to get through it. Leguizamo sat in the makeup chair for three and a half hours to be aged into someone over a hundred years old. They tightened his skin, glued on wrinkles, and bleached his hair. “Chris and I don’t believe in wigs,” he explained.
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Even though it was tough on his body, Leguizamo had a lot of good things to say about Nolan as a director. He talked about how Nolan always stands right behind the camera instead of watching from a remote video village. “I think it’s the most personal and safe place to have a director because you’re eye to eye and then you feel safe, you feel seen, you feel more capable of being vulnerable,” Leguizamo told People Magazine. Nolan also showed how much he cared when he took off his own coat to warm up Leguizamo, who was freezing on set. That made co-star Matt Damon joke about it, since he had spent months shooting in icy Iceland.
Why Leguizamo Calls This Role the Zenith of His Career
At the end of it all, Leguizamo watched the finished movie with his wife, and they both cried in an IMAX theater. He called it the “zenith” of his career. “I think Chris wanted me to have vision problems, because he wanted a fusion between Homer and Eumaeus,” Leguizamo said. In the end, going blind for a while served a bigger purpose. It helped him give a performance that feels real and hits you right in the heart.
You might also want to read: “I Definitely Hit the Limits”: Christopher Nolan Reveals When Fans Can Expect His Next Movie After ‘The Odyssey’
