The Sound of ‘The Odyssey’: Composer Ludwig Göransson Used Ancient Greek Instruments, Scrap Metals and Gongs

Composer Ludwig Göransson has reunited with Christopher Nolan to score “The Odyssey,” marking their third collaboration after “Tenet” and “Oppenheimer.”

Earlier this year, Göransson’s work on “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” showcased his use of heavy synths and guitar-based orchestrations. However, for “The Odyssey,” Göransson ventures into new territory.

Nolan instructed Göransson not to use an orchestra in the score. Göransson previously told Time Magazine, “It’s not like the orchestra existed back then.… It was a challenge and also an opening to try to make something unique.”

In a featurette accompanying the film, Nolan explained, “We wanted the film to feel like a recognizable world to people, even though it was going to be ancient Greece. We don’t want it to look and feel like previous movies that take on this kind of classical world. What can we do that’s more timeless than that?”

Göransson was forced to step outside his comfort zone and work with sounds he had never worked with before.

With the film set in the Bronze age, Nolan suggested Göransson use bronze as a thematic element. Göransson rented 35 bronze gongs of varying sizes, experimented with them. “Hitting walls, hitting railings, hitting any things you could find outside, like scrap metal or air conditioning units,” he says. He also used a lyre and an aulos.

The score also features vocals which Göransson says, “Adds some of the more emotional pacing of the score.”

The original song, “When I’m Home,” written by James Blake, Travis Scott, Göransson and Nolan is also on the film’s soundtrack.

Nolan’s film brings Homer’s classic tale to life. Damon stars as the titular seafaring hero. The film also stars Anne Hathaway as Odysseus’ wife, Penelope; Tom Holland as their son, Telemachus; Pattinson as the Ithacan suitor, Antinous; Zendaya as goddess of wisdom, Athena; and Charlize Theron as goddess of witchcraft, Circe. The enormous cast also includes Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Will Yun Lee, Mia Goth, Jimmy Gonzales and Elliot Page.

“The Odyssey” is Nolan’s 13th directorial feature film. He wrote the screenplay based on the ancient poem and produced it alongside Emma Thomas under their production company Syncopy. Universal Pictures is distributing the film. 

Listen to the soundtrack below.