Travis Scott is opening up about how Christopher Nolan cast him in The Odyssey.
During a Tuesday night appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Scott recalled receiving an unexpected phone call from the Oscar-winning director, who asked if he’d be interested in acting in the Greek epic.
“My phone went off and it just said, ‘Chris.’ And I’m thinking, ‘OK, I don’t know what this is about. Maybe he wants to go to a show?’” Scott said. “So I pick up and he’s like, ‘Would you be interested in acting in a movie?’ And I’m like, ‘I mean, I guess, you know? What’s the [role]?’”
Scott recalled Nolan telling him the film would be “coming out soon” and that he wanted him to be part of it. Surprised by the ask, Scott responded: “I’m like, ‘Whoa, hold on. Wait. You know I make music?’” before Nolan gave him “his whole thesis on why.”
“I really enjoy his time. I’m really inspired by him. He’s a real mentor of mine outside of this,” Scott said of the Oppenheimer filmmaker. “So I’m like, ‘Yo, whatever you’re down with, I’m down. However it goes, I’m with it.’”
Scott played Demodocus, the bard who narrates Odysseus’ journey in the opening scene and is the first voice and face audiences see in the film.
Though he admitted, “I was actually nervous as ‘F,’” Scott said he initially assumed his scenes would be with extras.
“I didn’t know that it was going to be Anne Hathaway, Tom [Holland] and Robert Pattinson — a bunch of amazing people,” he said. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. But they were such an amazing cast.”
Scott continued to praise Nolan and the cast for making it a comfortable experience. The pair previously collaborated on the soundtrack for Nolan’s 2020 film Tenet, which starred Pattinson.
“Chris is an amazing director,” Scott said before adding of the cast, “Everybody made me feel comfortable. I was just glad to be there and just watch him. And being in such a world of them. So I’m just glad to be here.”
Nolan recently spoke with Time magazine about why he cast Scott, saying, “I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap.”
In addition to acting, Scott also recorded the original song “When I’m Home” for The Odyssey‘s closing credits alongside James Blake, with production from the film’s composer Ludwig Göransson. Nolan is credited as a co-writer.
The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.