There is a specific kind of dread that hits you in a foreign country—a rumble in the stomach that sounds less like hunger and more like a warning shot. It’s the same sinking feeling I get watching the chest-burster scene in Alien. You know something is wrong inside, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop it.
Benny Safdie knows this feeling. The actor-director, fresh off directing Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine, recently confessed that his time on Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey wasn’t all epic vistas and IMAX cameras. It involved a very human, very painful mistake in Morocco.
I have to confess—I usually roll my eyes at “actor hardship” stories. Oh, you were cold? Cry me a river. But Safdie’s story hits different because it’s so pedestrian. It’s the mistake you or I would make.
Safdie’s Morocco Water Disaster
Safdie shared the anecdote via Project Big Screen. On a day off in Morocco, he wanted to explore.
“I asked this guy… ‘Hey, can you take me around to some of the things?’ and I ate the food, I drank the things.”
Later, he casually mentioned the water to Nolan. The director’s response was brief: “You don’t drink it.”
Cue the stomach rebellion. Safdie described visiting a doctor who put a stethoscope to his stomach and said, “Wow! Something’s going on in there!”
It’s funny now. I’m sure it wasn’t when he was trying to embody a Greek king while his insides staged a mutiny.
The Odyssey Set: No Hijinks Allowed
Despite gastrointestinal distress, Safdie marveled at the production’s scale and Matt Damon‘s endurance. “I would see him, but he would always have this incredible warmth and excitement… It was just like, ‘This is the greatest.'”
James Remar, who joined after Oppenheimer, described the set as disciplined. “It felt like we went to school together,” he said. “No silliness… Nobody’s asleep. Nobody’s drunk. Nobody’s f***** up. Everyone was very, very concentrated.”
I love this. It paints Nolan not as a tyrant, but as a headmaster.
So while Safdie might regret that sip of water, the pain was probably worth it. Pain is temporary. Film is forever. Even if that film involves Agamemnon desperately looking for a bathroom in the Sahara.
FAQ: Benny Safdie and The Odyssey
Why is Benny Safdie’s Morocco mistake significant for The Odyssey production?
It humanizes a production that sounds almost mythically ambitious. Six countries, six months, an A-list cast—and still, a basic tourist error took down one of the leads. It shows that no matter the budget, filmmaking remains chaotic and unpredictable.
How does Nolan’s The Odyssey set compare to typical blockbuster productions?
According to James Remar, it’s unusually disciplined. No “hijinks,” no distractions—everyone focused on executing Nolan’s vision. This level of professionalism is rare and suggests the final product will reflect that intensity.
