Lupita Nyong'o Co-Directed An Epic Scene In The Odyssey

What can’t Lupita Nyong’o do? While fans flooded IMAX theaters to witness director Christopher Nolan’s film, the Academy Award winner who plays “the face that launched 1,000 ships” revealed that her contribution to the project extended far beyond her dual starring roles.

During a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the actress shared that she actually stepped into the director’s shoes to command a pivotal scene in the epic production.

The unexpected behind-the-scenes handoff occurred during a sequence detailing the tense homecoming of the Greek king Agamemnon. Nyong’o, who plays the powerful Queen Clytemnestra alongside her dual role as Helen of Troy, walked onto the set expecting a standard day of acting. Instead, Nolan approached her right before the cameras rolled with a rare request for a performer:

“Lupita, will you give the background actors their tasks?”

According to TheGrio, the unexpected prompt caught the star completely off guard. Initially assuming that an assistant director or another crew member would be tasked with blocking the extras, she quickly realized exactly why the Oscar-winning director was outsourcing the creative control. The sequence centered around a royal bathing ritual, and as the queen overseeing the chamber, Clytemnestra would naturally be the one dictating the precise movements of every single attendant in the room.

Because Nyong’o had done months of deep-dive historical research to understand the mindset of her characters, she knew exactly how a monarch would command her court. Taking the reins without breaking stride, the actress gathered the background performers, assigned their specific tasks, and meticulously mapped out their placement across the set.

While delivering her own heavy, high-stakes dialogue, Nyong’o kept a watchful eye on the surrounding ensemble, pulling performers aside between takes to offer sharp directorial notes and adjustments.

“And then I thought to myself, I just co-directed with Chris Nolan,” she told Fallon, prompting a massive round of applause from the studio audience.

The brilliant collaboration highlights how perfectly prepared the actress was to take on the massive weight of The Odyssey. Her flawless execution serves as the ultimate response to a wave of bad-faith internet criticism that surrounded her initial casting as Helen of Troy. Rather than spending her press tour defending her presence in the ancient Greek narrative, Nyong’o chose to keep her focus entirely on discovering who these iconic women were.

Multitalented Muse Lupita Nyong'o Says She Co-Directed An 'Odyssey' Scene With Christopher Nolan's Noble Blessing was originally published on bossip.com