Christopher Nolan gave John Leguizamo a legit warning before Odyssey started filming

Christopher Nolan keeps a tight inner circle. Michael Caine has appeared in eight of his films. Cillian Murphy played supporting roles in five Nolan flicks before finally getting the starring part in Oppenheimer. Christian Bale proved himself in The Prestige before donning the cape and cowl in the Dark Knight trilogy. In other words, once you’re in with Christopher Nolan, you’re typically in for life. But the Oscar-winning filmmaker isn’t afraid to work with new talent, either.

The Odyssey features several newcomers to Nolan’s acting troupe, including Lupita Nyong’o, Tom Holland, and John Leguizamo. So when Polygon sat down with Leguizamo for an interview ahead of the film’s release, we had to ask what it was like working with the director and what advice (if any) he got from his co-stars. The actor, who’s starred in everything from the original Super Mario Bros. movie (he played Luigi) to the Ice Age franchise (he voices Sid the Sloth), revealed that the best guidance he got came directly from Nolan.

“He prepared me himself,” Leguizamo tells Polygon. “He said, ‘You know, you’re not gonna be able to have a phone.’ Nobody has a phone, so we all have to talk and hang out, which is incredible.”

Leguizamo isn’t the only The Odyssey actor to have praised Nolan’s no-phone policy. Tom Holland recently described the experience of trying to follow a Europa League game while on set in an interview with GQ.

“I was shooting Chris Nolan’s movie in LA,” Holland said. “We were not allowed our phones on set, so I was not aware of the score. I kept going to the sneaky crew members who I knew always had their phones and kept asking them for updates. I went to my trailer for lunch and caught the last 10 minutes of the game, and my celebration was coming back to set full of energy and doing a really fantastic scene. So that was really fun.”

Image: Universal Pictures

Beyond the smartphone ban, which Nolan famously adheres to at all times, the director also subjected himself to whatever grueling experience his actors went through while filming The Odyssey.

“The pace that he goes at is intense,” Leguizamo tells Polygon. “He’s there with you. He is behind the camera, where all directors should be, because that’s where you can see an actor’s soul, from that length. And he’s in the elements, man. If it’s freezing, he’s freezing. If you’re in a windstorm, he’s in that windstorm. You never feel alone. He’s always protecting you.”

The Odyssey releases in theaters on July 17.