Himesh Patel On Life After The Odyssey

He was all of 16 when he first came into the spotlight as Tamwar Masood on EastEnders. From there, his journey has taken him from Danny Boyle’s Yesterday, where he played a struggling musician in an alternate world where he is the only person who remembers The Beatles, to The Franchise, Enola Holmes, Don’t Look Up and Nolan’s Tenet. Today, at 35, British Asian actor, Himesh Patel, finds himself at the centre of one of the year’s biggest films, playing Eurylochus, the morally conflicted second-in-command to Matt Damon’s Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The film has crossed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office since its release, and Patel has emerged as one of its standout performers. 

Joining us over a Zoom call from London, where an unabating heatwave has made the British summer rather cruel, Patel is still taking in the response to the film. It's an intriguing new point in his career, but not much about him has changed. Edited excerpts: 

Reviews singled you out as the standout of The Odyssey

I’ve been reading them in detail, but obviously, I’ve had lots of friends send me screen grabs and excerpts and things like that. It has been very nice, and I’m just really, really thrilled at the response to the film overall because I know how much hard work went into it from every single person who worked on the movie. So as with anything anyone ever works on, but especially this one, we were all just really hoping that it would have the kind of response that one of Chris Nolan’s movies can have, and this is, you know, best-case scenario. 

What was your understanding of the character you were playing? 

Until I read the script, I didn’t know the extent of my role. It just felt like such a gift to have just been offered this part, and to be entrusted with something like that was a real privilege. I almost didn’t really know what to do or say about it. I look back on it and I think I probably should have texted Emma and been like, “Thank you, this is great” (laughs). I think I was just so sort of stunned that I was just like waiting for the phone to ring and then go, “Sorry, we’ve made a huge mistake, it is not this but the other one” or something.  

Regarding the character, I was aware when I did my research and I read a translation, that typically Eurylochus was seen as quite selfish, arrogant, and seen as someone who’s sort of doomed by hubris, really. When I read it, I thought there’s something interesting that Chris had done really with it, which is that really the story is about a sort of collective sort of hubris of everyone, of all the men, but also ultimately, it’s about the effect of war on one man specifically, but also on a group of men, on a family, on a country. 

I felt the relationship between Eurylochus and Odysseus was one of erosion of faith. If Odysseus is starting to be a bit arrogant, or starting to make rash decisions, he is obviously going to be the first person to question him in terms of his second in command. But also, he’s starting to realize the impact of what they’ve done on his kin, and I think that's what ultimately leads him to a heart breaking decision. So there was just a real depth that Chris added to the character, an emotional one, which I loved. 

What was it like sharing screen space with Matt Damon? He is a Nolan regular, and this wasn't your first rodeo with him either. 

With Matt, you very quickly lose sight of who he is because he’s just such an unassuming, down-to-earth guy. He is one of the defining film stars of the last 20/30 years, and he doesn’t just sort of doesn’t carry himself like that at all, or at least doesn’t carry himself in the ways that we would expect. He really is a team player & it was just a joy being around him, and he led us all in with the greatest example, to get into the privilege of getting into scene work with him. 

Talking about Chris, I think in terms of what’s challenging, there’s just, you know, that he wants to capture things as viscerally and as realistically as possible, no matter what he’s doing. So that was the one thing that I was excited about with this movie because I knew that he wouldn’t really be veering away from that philosophy. It wasn’t like suddenly he was going to be using CGI extensively, and, you know, he was going to stick to his guns and continue to try and do as much in-camera as possible, and so I was so excited every step of the way.

Coming to South Asian representation, do you think we finally have got our foot in the door, which is no longer closed but ajar? 

I mean, hopefully I’m a testament to that. With many other actors, some of whom I’ve had the good fortune of working with, a lot of whom I know personally, we’re all trying to do the same thing, and the one thing I’m really keen to do is just make sure that we know each other, and that we form a sense of community, and understand that anyone’s success is a success for us all. I just hope, you know, successes such as this one can sort of open those doors for me and open those doors for others. 

We do talk a lot about diversity and inclusivity, but what do you think is really the challenge for actors, you know, of colour and South Asians, especially? 

I think we need to encourage people to be able to imagine. If you can imagine a movie with a Cyclops in it, or if you can imagine, you know, a movie with lightsabres in it, all this sort of stuff, then I don’t think it’s too much to ask that you can imagine someone who’s not just a straight white guy in a role. I think maybe progress is slower than I would have liked, when I think about the last 10 years, but at the same time, I have to just continue to take the wins when they come, and do my bit, of course, in trying to move things forward, and also just continue to sort of speak about it. You know, I don’t want to shy away from talking about the reality of it, but I also don’t want to admit defeat in any way. I think it’s just about understanding the reality of the situation and continuing to push against it. 

What’s different about how you choose your projects now, and has it become easier? 

I suppose I am afforded a certain amount of privilege since Yesterday, to say no to things that I don’t necessarily believe is going to be the right thing. I suppose when you get a break like with a movie like that, I kind of saw it as a chance to sort of chart a course, to sort of carve a path for myself and sort of seek out opportunities to do the kind of work that I want to do, to challenge myself in ways I want to be challenged. So, you know, that continues to be my aim. As I learn more about the business, as I learn more about how things get made and how that works, I definitely understand that, you know, having a certain amount of renown allows you to get things made. You know, if you’re writing something, as I am, and you want to get that made, if you’ve been in stuff that people have seen, then that helps, you know, get financiers on board, for example. I feel very lucky that I’ve managed to chart that course so far, and let’s see where things go.

You have just shot the pilot of The X-Files reboot, which is being directed by Ryan Coogler 

There is very little I can say, obviously. But other than we’ve shot the pilot, and I had a great time. It was such a privilege to work with Ryan Coogler. He wrote an incredible script. What little I’ve seen of what we shot looks incredible. We had Autumn Durald Arkapaw, his Academy Award-winning DP, who shot the pilot. They have set that sort of bar for what it is. Ryan loves the original show. You know, he grew up watching it with his mum, so, you know, he’s got an emotional connection to it. Our showrunner, Jennifer Yale, too loves that show. So neither of them, and no one, is trying to scrap anything and start again. It’s deeply respectful to what’s come before, and I’m just really hopeful that we get to do more. 

So lastly, what’s the most desi thing about you, and your all-time favourite Hindi film? 

There are many things, but there’s probably something about the way that I wash up dishes that’s very specific, and a lot of general cleanliness stuff that is just very maybe bordering on hypochondriac sort of, but like the way that we are. But probably my predilection for chai is probably the most desi thing about me. You just can’t really beat it, and it’s also very funny now in the UK and in the West, where everyone’s sort of drinking chai lattes, but I’m just like, that’s not what it is. So it’s probably about how judgmental I am of everything that purports to be chai and is not chai at all.  

Regarding movies, I was reminiscing recently, when someone on X-Files asked me for some Indian recommendations, so I ended up giving her like all the movies that I loved growing up, my top two faves which came to mind being Rang De Basanti and Omkara.