Christopher Nolan’s Crew Broke into Applause After Samantha Morton’s Take. The Last Time That Happened Was Heath Ledger’s Joker

Nolan cast Morton as the goddess Circe in “The Odyssey,” his IMAX adaptation of Homer’s epic, out July 17. After one of her takes, the crew stopped shooting and gave her a round of applause. His producer and wife, Emma Thomas, remembered the only other time it had happened: Heath Ledger, filming the Joker for “The Dark Knight,” nearly 20 years earlier.

Her screen time is limited, but Nolan calls Circe the fulcrum the whole film lived or died on. She was, he said, exactly the actor he’d pictured the moment he finished the script.

A film crew applauding a take is not a normal thing. These are professionals who have seen everything, and they don’t stop a shoot to clap.

Morton is a two-time Oscar nominee, for “Sweet and Lowdown” and “In America.” Wider audiences know her as Agatha in “Minority Report” and Alpha on “The Walking Dead.” Early reviews of “The Odyssey” single her out anyway. Time Out called her extraordinary. The Independent wrote that she steals the show with the few scenes she’s in.

“The Odyssey” opens July 17. The last time a Nolan set stopped to applaud, the performance won an Oscar. Morton has a handful of scenes to make it two.

Thank you for reading. You can find Thought Catalog on Facebook, and read more over on our website.