WHEN I FIRST interview Himesh Patel, neither of us has seen The Odyssey yet. In fact, there’s only one thing he can specifically, definitively say: “I hope I’m in it!” He’s affable and laid-back, wearing a T-shirt and denim jacket as we chat about the horror hits Obsession and Backrooms, and he marvels at the idea of what the success of those small-budget films could mean for the industry’s future. Having starred in The Franchise, 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 director Christopher Nolan once before, in the mind-bending Tenet, and we talk about the unique experience of acting in a Chris Nolan joint.
But when we meet again after both finally seeing the much-anticipated The Odyssey, things get real. Patel isn’t just in the movie, but his character of Eurylochus — the second-in-command soldier to Matt Damon’s Odysseus — shines in a stacked ensemble. Now we’re able to talk about the grueling experience of going to the end of the world and back, through epic battles on land and sea, dark magic, and life-threatening whirlpools.
“It was even beyond my wildest imaginings while we were making it, really,” he says on the afternoon after both had seen the finished film for the very first time. “There are sequences that were more magnificent, more terrifying, and more visceral than I could ever have imagined while we were shooting them.”
Nolan’s films have been cultural events for a long time. Oppenheimer swept the Oscars and nearly grossed $1 billion; his Dark Knight trilogy set a high watermark for the superhero movie; Interstellar and Inception 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 should be enticing to anyone.
Patel’s second go-around with Nolan came at just the right time; he’d been waiting for the news on whether or not The Franchise would be returning for a second season. “Rumors were flying around,” he says. “And then I got a call from my agent’s office saying, ‘Hey, can we call you for five minutes?’ And I thought, Well, I know what this is…. But I didn’t know what it was. Because then they said, ‘Chris Nolan is offering you a role.’ I was standing in the middle of the street at the time, and I genuinely said, ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’”
While The Franchise was ultimately not renewed (“I think we deserved another bite of the apple, but I’m really proud of what we made,” Patel says), the 35-year-old actor went straight into three more projects: an appearance alongside Riz Ahmed in Prime Video’s Bait, playing Dr. Watson in Netflix’s Enola Holmes 3, and the massive undertaking that was The Odyssey. Since then, he’s landed the co-lead opposite Danielle Deadwyler in Ryan Coogler’s new version of The X-Files series. He’s filmed the pilot and is waiting for word on whether they’ll get to do more.
In short, it’s a good time to be Himesh Patel. Over the course of two conversations, he told Men’s Health about the challenges and triumphs of filming The Odyssey (spoilers ahead for one of humanity’s oldest surviving works of literature), the advice Matt Damon gave along the way, and what the new X-Files is all about.
On Navigating the Industry
MEN’S HEALTH: When you have experiences like starting on an exciting new project like The Odyssey, or disappointments like The Franchise not getting renewed, is there anyone you’ve met along the way who you like to contact for advice?
HIMESH PATEL: I called up Ruth Negga recently, who I worked with on Good Grief. She’s a wonderful human being and she’s 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 and The Odyssey] coming out. I’ve been really lucky to meet some wonderful people who understand the Hollywood world. It’s a very different thing, and it’s not always easy.
MH: What’s the hardest part?
HP: Taking ownership of things. I often think about how lucky I am to be here — there 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’s not always easy, especially when you just really enjoy doing the job. I don’t want it to ever become stressful.
On Joining The Odyssey
MH: Were you surprised when Christopher Nolan offered you the role in The Odyssey?
HP: It’s not the kind of call you ever expect to get — especially twice from the same director. Working with Chris on Tenet was already a remarkable experience, so when the offer came in for The Odyssey, it felt surreal. You don’t take those moments for granted.
