This article was featured in <\/em>MH Flex<\/em><\/a>, our monthly newsletter recommending the one in-depth interview you need to flex your pop culture knowledge. <\/em>Sign up here<\/em><\/a> to get it first.<\/em><\/p>\n WHEN I FIRST<\/strong> interview Himesh Patel, neither of us has seen The Odyssey<\/em> yet. In fact, there\u2019s only one thing he can specifically, definitively say: \u201cI hope I\u2019m in it!\u201d He\u2019s affable and laid-back, wearing a T-shirt and denim jacket as we chat about the horror hits Obsession<\/em><\/a> and Backrooms<\/em><\/a>, and he marvels at the idea of what the success of those small-budget films could mean for the industry\u2019s future. (And having starred in The Franchise<\/em><\/a>, the great but short-lived HBO comedy skewering the behind-the-scenes creation of a superhero franchise, he has some thoughts.) Patel has worked with Odyssey<\/em> director Christopher Nolan<\/a> once before, in the mind-bending Tenet<\/em>, and we talk about the unique experience of acting in a Chris Nolan joint.<\/p>\n But when we meet again after<\/em> both finally seeing the much-anticipated The Odyssey<\/em>, things get real. Patel isn\u2019t just in the movie, but his character of Eurylochus, the second-in-command soldier to Matt Damon<\/a>\u2019s Odysseus, shines in a stacked ensemble. Now we\u2019re able to talk about the grueling experience of going to the end of the world and back, through the likes of epic battles on land and sea, dark magic, and life-threatening whirlpools.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was even beyond my wildest imaginings while we were making it, really,\u201d he says on the afternoon after we had both seen the finished film for the very first time. \u201cThere are sequences that were more magnificent, more terrifying, and more visceral than I could ever have imagined while we were shooting them.\u201d<\/p>\n Nolan\u2019s films have been cultural events for a long time. Oppenheimer<\/em><\/a> swept the Oscars and nearly grossed $1 billion; his Dark Knight <\/em>trilogy set a high watermark for the superhero movie; Interstellar <\/em>and Inception <\/em>quickly became sci-fi classics of massive scale and size. Just the idea of a filmmaker like that taking on a story like The Odyssey <\/em>should be enticing to anyone.<\/p>\n Patel\u2019s second go-around with Nolan came at just the right time; he\u2019d been waiting for the news on whether or not The Franchise<\/em> would be returning for a second season. \u201cRumors were flying around,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd then I got a call from my agent\u2019s office saying, \u2018Hey, can we call you for five minutes?\u2019 And I thought, Well, I know what this is\u2026<\/em>. But I didn\u2019t know what it was. Because then they said, \u2018Chris Nolan is offering you a role.\u2019 I was standing in the middle of the street at the time, and I genuinely said, \u2018Are you fucking kidding me?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n While The Franchise <\/em>was ultimately not renewed (\u201cI think we deserved another bite of the apple, but I\u2019m really proud of what we made,\u201d Patel says), the 35-year-old actor went straight into three more projects: an appearance alongside Riz Ahmed<\/a> in Prime Video\u2019s Bait, <\/em>playing Dr. Watson in Netflix\u2019s Enola Holmes 3<\/em>, and the massive undertaking that was The Odyssey<\/em>. Since then, he\u2019s landed the co-lead (opposite Danielle Deadwyler) in Ryan Coogler<\/a>\u2019s new version of The X-Files <\/em>series. <\/em>He\u2019s filmed the pilot, and he\u2019s waiting for word on whether they\u2019ll get to do more.<\/p>\n In short, it\u2019s a good time to be Himesh Patel. Over the course of two conversations, he told Men\u2019s Health <\/em>about the challenges and triumphs of filming The Odyssey <\/em>(spoilers ahead for one of humanity\u2019s oldest surviving works of literature<\/strong>), <\/em>the advice Matt Damon gave along the way, and what the new X-Files <\/em>is all about.<\/p>\n MEN\u2019S HEALTH: When you have experiences like starting on an exciting new project like <\/strong>The Odyssey,<\/strong><\/em> or disappointments like <\/strong>The Franchise <\/strong><\/em>not getting renewed, is there anyone you\u2019ve met along the way who you like to contact for advice?<\/strong><\/p>\n HIMESH PATEL:<\/strong> I called up Ruth Negga recently, who I worked with on Good Grief<\/em>. She\u2019s a wonderful human being and she\u2019s run the gamut of things. She really knows how to handle a lot of this industry in many ways. I also got to know Steven Yeun recently. I called him up toward the end of last year, when I was thinking about next steps with these two movies [Enola Holmes 3<\/em> and The Odyssey<\/em>] coming out. I\u2019ve been really lucky to meet some wonderful people who understand the Hollywood world. It\u2019s a very different thing, and it\u2019s not always easy.<\/p>\n MH: What\u2019s the hardest part? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> Taking ownership of things. I often think about how lucky I am to be here\u2014there are a million things that have to fall into place for anyone to get anywhere, but at some point you do have to take ownership of your career. Can you steer the ship a little bit? Can you guide your team and take a bit more leadership over things? You have to know how to navigate all that, and it\u2019s not always easy, especially when you just really enjoy doing the job. I don\u2019t want it to ever become stressful.<\/p>\n MH: Were you surprised when Christopher Nolan offered you the role in <\/strong>The Odyssey<\/strong><\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> It\u2019s not what I was expecting when I got the call. They\u2019re offering<\/em> me a role? I thought, I auditioned for Tenet.<\/em> I wasn\u2019t expecting to be in a bracket of actors that he would just offer a role\u2014and it\u2019s a great role! I got to do some really special stuff. And it all came out of nowhere.<\/p>\n Christopher Nolan directs Matt Damon and Himesh Patel in The Odyssey. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n MH: Did working on <\/strong>Tenet<\/strong><\/em> help prepare you for <\/strong>The Odyssey<\/strong><\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>To some extent, yeah. I was used to how the set runs and what\u2019s expected of you. It was nice to walk into a slightly familiar environment. With Chris, a lot of the team is the same people: [cinematographer] Hoyte van Hoytema, some of the camera team, a lot of the sound guys. I\u2019d worked with the stunt team on Tenet<\/em>. So it was a bit of a familiar environment. If it had all been new faces, that would have been scary.<\/p>\n MH: What kind of prep did you put in? You\u2019re playing a warrior, after all. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t have a whole lot of time, so I did my best. I worked with my trainer back in London, and then I tried to keep it up during the shoot, but the hours were pretty demanding, to say the least. It was hard to muster up the energy to get any workout in. For example, when we were shooting in Scotland, we would get picked up from the hotel at like 4 a.m., shooting all day, and hitting the hay at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n MH: Goodness. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>It\u2019s because he wants you on set at 7 a.m. I think a lot of that had to do with the light. He likes to do as much in-camera as possible. And he likes to shoot fast. It\u2019s a run-and-gun style at times, which I really love. Despite shooting with an IMAX camera, and the scale of it all, he\u2019s still just finding stuff. There\u2019s something alive to his filmmaking\u2014we\u2019re using natural light, the sun\u2019s coming up over the hill, are we ready to shoot or not? That\u2019s how you get some really beautiful stuff.<\/p>\n MH: Your character, Eurylochus, is Odysseus\u2019s second-in-command. What was it like working with Matt Damon? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>To have spent that much time around him was such a privilege. He\u2019s kind to everyone, and his work ethic as number one on the call sheet was just impeccable. I\u2019ve never seen anyone work as physically hard in a role, and there was not a word of complaint and not an eye rolled at any point.<\/p>\n He was just always ready to go. Every now and then I\u2019d see him sitting on a rock, just taking a second for himself. That set the bar. You could start complaining about something, but if he\u2019s not complaining, then I don\u2019t know what you\u2019re complaining about. He\u2019s in it as much as we are. It\u2019s a very democratic set, a Chris Nolan set. No one\u2019s getting any special treatment.<\/p>\n MH: Was there a particular moment where you remember Matt taking on a leadership role on set?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>There was a day where we were shooting off this island in Italy called Favignana. And we\u2019d shot during the day, and it\u2019d been really sunny, and then we went back to port to get lunch, and these dark clouds rolled in. We all thought they might call it for the day. But instead, we went straight back onto the boat for a specific shot Chris wanted to get with the dark clouds and some rain. The SFX team had a really hilarious job where they just pulled up beside us in a boat with a hose and wind machines.<\/p>\n So all the rain was flying at us sideways, we\u2019re all scrabbling over this boat, trying to get to oars, trying to row away from whatever we were running away from in the scene. We\u2019re dripping wet, feeling very sorry for ourselves, and Matt just turned to us all and said, \u201cThere are thousands of actors in SAG, and every single one of them would kill to be where you are.\u201d It\u2019s a privilege working at that scale, but what\u2019s expected of you is to work hard.<\/p>\n MH: There\u2019s a lot of lore about Christopher Nolan\u2019s sets\u2014no phones, no chairs, all of that. Is it really like people say?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>Yeah\u2014no phones, because we\u2019re there to work, and everyone\u2019s got to be paying attention. I don\u2019t think Chris does shot lists or storyboards. He\u2019s got the whole thing in his head, so everyone just has to be ready. Everything\u2019s built 360, as it were, so he can put the camera wherever he wants, whenever he wants it. On most sets, you would have time while they re-light or whatever to go back to your trailer or the cast tent. There\u2019s none of that. You get maybe a few minutes here and there to take a breather while they shift stuff around. If there\u2019s a rock, you can sit on that. No one has any chairs. Chris doesn\u2019t have a chair. Everyone\u2019s equal and he\u2019s there with you.<\/p>\n MH: Was there a day you remember as particularly challenging?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>There was a day and night we were shooting in Iceland. It was around that time of year in Iceland where the sun doesn\u2019t set, but we were still shooting nights because there\u2019s this twilight that happens between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. We were shooting in the rain, in the cold, in this eerie twilight. A [production] runner comes up and hands us a meal, a tray with some food on it. So I\u2019m just standing there with Matt in this sideways rain, eating curry and rice or something from a tray, and at some point I turned to Matt and asked, \u201cMatt, are these the worst conditions you\u2019ve ever filmed in?\u201d And he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but if it\u2019s not the worst, then whatever the worst was, you were there with me for it too.\u201d That\u2019s the reality Chris wants to capture. That\u2019s why his movies feel so visceral and so alive, because he doesn\u2019t manufacture any of it. He doesn\u2019t want it to feel too cushy. He wants us to feel that danger.<\/p>\n MH: Hearing that from the guy who played Jason Bourne must make it feel legit.<\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> Honestly, if he\u2019s saying it\u2014\u201cThis is it, I\u2019ve never had a bigger challenge\u201d\u2014that excites me. There are about 20 years separating me and Matt, and he\u2019s still finding new levels of challenge. So I know I\u2019ve still got a lot to experience and learn. The challenges and the excitement will keep coming.<\/p>\n MH: How does the film make one of our oldest surviving stories feel new? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>Often with this genre, people have an expectation of how it should look and feel. Maybe they expect a certain opulence or grandeur, maybe a certain type of theatricality that we\u2019re used to with sword-and-sandal movies.<\/p>\n This is stripping all that back. The scale is there\u2014of course it is, since we shot every frame of it on IMAX film\u2014but it\u2019s also raw and it\u2019s alive in a way that you don\u2019t always see with this type of epic.<\/p>\n Patel with Robert Pattinson and John David Washington in Tenet, <\/em>also directed by Nolan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n FROM LEFT: Daniel Br\u00fchl, Patel, and Isaac Powell in The Franchise. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Patel\u2019s first leading role was in Danny Boyle\u2019s Yesterday.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n MH: You\u2019re in some of the biggest, most intense sequences in the movie. What was your favorite to see play out? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> Hard to pick. It was great to see the Cyclops sequence all put together, without wanting to spoil exactly how he did it. Bill Irwin, who played the Cyclops, was there every day. But, obviously, he\u2019s not a giant, so there\u2019s a bit of trickery there. But it looked even more amazing on screen. And he brought so much humanity to what I\u2019m sure everyone is expecting to just be a monster. And, of course, the Circe sequence is pretty unbelievable.<\/p>\n MH: I mean, I have to ask about that sequence, where Circe turns Odysseus\u2019s men into pigs. What was that like?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t know quite what to expect, but I can tell you there\u2019s no CGI in that sequence. I think people won\u2019t quite believe it, but there\u2019s none.<\/p>\n MH: Did you realize how dark that sequence was going to get? That was the closest I\u2019ve ever seen Christopher Nolan come to horror. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> I had a sense of it, but to see it all put together and to see the pace of it, the way it ramps up, it\u2019s so visceral and disgusting. I think you\u2019re right, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen Chris go to that sort of place before.<\/p>\n MH: I didn\u2019t see you stuffed in the Trojan horse with the rest of the Greek soldiers.<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>I wasn\u2019t in there, actually. It was a last-minute logistical decision. But I dodged a bullet because I heard from all the other guys that it was gnarly in there. Once again, Chris wasn\u2019t pretending. He was like, \u201cI\u2019m going to stuff you in this horse. I\u2019m going to submerge some of you in water. And we\u2019re going to film it. We\u2019re not tricking anyone.\u201d My hat\u2019s off to all the guys who went in there. The scene looks amazing. It looks real in a way that I don\u2019t think any Trojan Horse sequence has before. It was worth it.<\/p>\n MH: That sequence seems to encapsulate what you were saying about the movie feeling epic but also raw and intimate. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>And Chris was in the Trojan horse with them. Talk about how gnarly being an actor in the horse was\u2014he was in there and<\/em> he was filming it. He wasn\u2019t getting out of it the way I did! [Laughs<\/em>] But that\u2019s what he enjoys about making movies. He enjoys being in there and having that intimacy with all of us rather than being at a distance and shouting from a megaphone. That\u2019s not the kind of director he is. All the stuff about no one having phones or chairs, that\u2019s all true, but it\u2019s not because Chris wants to torture people. He needs everyone to be at the same level to make movies the way he makes them. We\u2019re all going to be in it together. And if we\u2019re in the water, he\u2019s in the water with us. His reputation precedes him; we know he\u2019s a great filmmaker. But on set, you really experience the fact that he\u2019s the kind of director who\u2019s willing to be there with you at every step.<\/p>\n MH: That must go such a long way. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> It does, man. That\u2019s why you jump through hoops for the guy, because he\u2019s not asking anything of you that he\u2019s not asking of himself.<\/p>\n MH: Speaking of visionary directors, you recently shot a pilot for a new <\/strong>X-Files<\/strong><\/em> series created by <\/strong>Ryan Coogler<\/strong><\/a>. How did that happen?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>The script appeared in my inbox, as it often does, from my agents. It felt almost nonchalant the way they just dropped it into my inbox. But I can tell they were probably quite proud of themselves. They were like, \u201cThis is a good one\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n And it was<\/em> a great script. Then I heard Ryan was in town for the BAFTAs and that he wanted to meet with me. So we had breakfast and I had a great time chatting with him. He\u2019s got an amazing brain. He\u2019s a real artist, a soulful artist. He\u2019s got so much depth to him. It wasn\u2019t clear what the meeting would be about at first. I assumed it would just be a chat, and that I\u2019d audition for the part down the line. Then it became clear that he was asking me if I wanted to do it. Fast-forward and we just wrapped it a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully we get to do more, but for now it\u2019s just a pilot.<\/p>\n MH: In the original series, the relationship between Mulder and Scully was central, as was the chemistry between <\/strong>David Duchovny<\/strong><\/a> and Gillian Anderson. How did you develop that with Danielle Deadwyler?<\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>What was great about working with Danielle was that we knew each other already. We were both in Station Eleven<\/em>. Now, our characters didn\u2019t meet in Station Eleven<\/em>, so we never worked together. But we\u2019ve stayed in touch ever since. I had seen her a couple of times when she\u2019s been in London. We\u2019ve just always got on really well. I hope I get to spend a lot more time with her.<\/p>\n MH: How would you say this new version of <\/strong>The X-Files<\/strong><\/em> is going to connect, or satisfy fans of the original series? <\/strong><\/p>\n HP: <\/strong>I\u2019m trying to think very carefully how to answer that.<\/p>\n MH: I don\u2019t want to get you in any trouble. <\/strong><\/p>\n HP:<\/strong> It\u2019s not even that I don\u2019t want to get into trouble\u2014of course, I don\u2019t!\u2014but that I, as a viewer, love the not knowing. I\u2019ve always found it interesting that a lot of fans want to find out everything that\u2019s going to happen on a show. I say just let it unfold. It\u2019ll appear in front of you and the thrill of that will be unimaginable.<\/p>\n But I\u2019ll tell you this: Ryan loves the original show. That\u2019s why he wanted to do this. And so it honors everything that\u2019s come before whilst also beginning something entirely new and entirely fresh. There\u2019s big ambition to what we want to do.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited and combined from two separate meetings for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n
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\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/f508f894-a125-418a-819f-64e4c0403c14.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n![\"\u201cIt\u2019s](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/e737702f-a4ba-44be-ba10-74cc3b8487c1.png?crop=0.804xw:1xh;0.109xw,0xh&resize=980:*\" "\\"\u201cIt\u2019s")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Himesh](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/cf95a0b1-a4f9-4c73-97f1-c80352a51fb3.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=2048:*\" "\\"Himesh")
<\/p>\n![\"Himesh](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/5b94bcfe-00f8-4242-a978-6560c496ebe6.jpg?resize=2048:*\" "\\"Himesh")
<\/p>\n![\"Tenet\"](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/65a7a7dd-2bc2-4d3d-84ea-23a1a29efaf0.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"Tenet\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/08751540-7e2b-4cba-b47c-71e94d6baae0.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"The")
<\/p>\n![\"Yesterday\"](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/e0f94000-f9e4-47a6-85e9-58dd0cbf2242.jpg?resize=980:*\" "\\"Yesterday\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\u201c[Christopher](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/e151c9b1-9719-474f-a748-42f92a708253.png?crop=0.742xw:1xh;0.124xw,0xh&resize=980:*\" "\\"\u201c[Christopher")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Himesh](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/dd4b4a7f-5b4b-4e8b-9e1b-b5fe51d94283.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"Himesh")
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