John Leguizamo Couldn't See Up to 14 Hours a Day on 'The Odyssey' Set

John Leguizamo revealed what went on behind the scenes as he prepared to play Eumaeus, Ithaca’s legendary blind servant, in The Odyssey. According to the actor, the experience was so distressing that he spent up to 14 hours a day barely able to see during filming for Christopher Nolan’s epic.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Leguizamo explained that this happened because of the special contact lenses used to bring the character to life: "I couldn’t see my phone, I couldn’t read, I couldn’t make calls. I had to be taken to the bathroom, I had to be brought back. I had to be taken to eat", he said. According to the actor, his other eye couldn’t compensate for the vision loss caused by the lenses either.

Beyond the physical difficulties, the preparation also took a psychological toll. Leguizamo said that when he was alone, he was forced to deal only with his own thoughts: "I could only stay inside my own head, because that was all I had. Too much time with my own thoughts. It’s a dangerous thing", he said.

Everything about The Odyssey

Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film is yet another adaptation of  Homer’s classic heroic poem, a continuation of The Iliad that tells the story of Odysseus (Ulysses in some translations), who spends 10 years trying to return home to Ithaca after victory in the Trojan War. Enraged, the god of the sea, Poseidon, does everything he can to keep him from returning to his wife, Penelope.

Matt Damon plays Odysseus. Anne Hathaway plays the character’s wife, Penelope. Meanwhile,  Tom Holland plays Telemachus, Ulysses’ son, with  Zendaya playing the goddess Athena, Charlize Theron as Calypso, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, and Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra — or Clitenestra — Agamemnon’s wife. 

The Odyssey is now playing in theaters.