John Leguizamo nearly went blind to make ‘The Odyssey’ role feel genuine

In The Odyssey, members of the cast gave rousing performances. Yet, there is one among them who is accepting going nearly blind just to authentically play the character.

He is John Leguizamo, who portrayed Eumaeus, Odysseus’s blind shepherd.

In an interview with BFI, he explained his preparation for the role, “My guy Eumaeus is sight-impaired, so they gave me contacts that were opaque, so I couldn’t actually see.”

While ostensibly opting to wear the lenses off-screen, Leguizamo added, “I had to be guided to eat, go to the bathroom, whatever.”

For further preparation, the actor shared, “I have a friend who’s legally blind, and I studied her, and that’s what I incorporated into this character to help me be as real as possible.”

Together, all these components, in addition to Christopher Nolan’s masterful direction, propelled the Greek epic to $51 million on opening day and eyed a jaw-dropping $120 million on opening weekend, shown in 3,919 theatres.

Though the gritty period drama was shot on a whopping budget of $250 million, the star-studded film is on track to crush the box-office expectations.

The Odyssey is in cinemas.