With nearly the entire cast in attendance, last week’s world premiere of The Odyssey in London had more star power than any other event in Leicester Square this year. Yet that night, Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and many others were somewhat overshadowed, both figuratively and literally, by a very large inanimate object.
Just off the carpet, a giant Trojan horse towered well over two stories high on two giant hooves (this one in aquatic-themed blue with added flecks of real sand) and was the most impressive promotional prop many attendees had seen.
The giant horse in question, visible from several streets away, was actually about 36 feet tall and weighed more than 8,800 pounds, according to details Universal provided to Variety.
Commissioned by Universal Pictures International UK & Yale, the structure is actually an exact replica of the rocking horse used in Nolan’s The Odyssey, and was built using blueprints from the production. A team of 34 people spent a total of 288 hours constructing the product using polystyrene, steel, resin tin foil, and fiberglass.
Bringing this beast to Leicester Square, a lavish offering to the gods of film distribution, turned out to be a mini-odyssey in itself. It was transported in four parts and the base using three trucks, and it took six people about nine hours to assemble it. It took about the same amount of time to disassemble the parts and put them back on the truck. A total of 45 people were involved in designing, building and assembling the horse. This is not much less than the number of people on board Odysseus’ ship (and about the same number of people on board after the Cyclops and Scylla’s monsters ripped off a few people).
Ahead of the release of The Odyssey on July 17th, the 36-foot horse will next be brought back for one day in London’s Trafalgar Square on July 13th, followed by a four-day stint outside the Westfield London shopping mall from July 16th.
And while this giant Trojan horse will stay in the UK, that doesn’t mean the US is short on giant mythical stallions.
In fact, there are two different horses in this country. An original version of the film is on display outside the AMC Universal Cinema at Universal Studios’ CityWalk. It was last seen on screen, engulfed in flames, as Troy was brutally sacked by an army of rampaging Greeks led by Damon. Another one is already roaming around, appearing in Venice, Texas, and Miami in the last month. New Yorkers will marvel at its towering splendor when it makes its red carpet debut this Tuesday at the U.S. premiere of The Odyssey at AMC Lincoln Square 13.
But it remains to be seen whether all of these Trojan horse’s amazing statistics, not to mention the time required to build and drag a Trojan horse around, will generate as much awe-inspiring excitement as the popcorn bucket of “The Odyssey,” a decidedly smaller, more plastic-like propaganda horse.
