Travis Scott says Nolan’s Odyssey role had him ‘nervous as F’

Travis Scott said Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey threw him into a very different kind of spotlight: acting opposite Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson while, by his own account, he was still figuring out the job.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Scott discussed his role in Nolan’s new film and his song “When I’m Home,” which plays over the end credits. Fallon noted that the movie marks Scott’s first involvement with a No. 1 film.

Scott said the moment has felt different from his music wins. He told Fallon that even his high school theater teacher had contacted his mother after the movie’s success, joking that the adults who once pushed him in school were reacting as if he had finally done something right.

The rapper’s connection with Nolan goes back to Tenet, where Scott contributed to the end credits with “The Plan.” This time, Scott said, the call from Nolan did not start with music.

Scott recalled seeing “Chris” on his phone and assuming Nolan might be calling about a concert. Instead, according to Scott, the filmmaker asked whether he would be interested in acting in a movie. Scott said he did not immediately realize Nolan meant one of his own projects.

Scott described Nolan on Fallon’s show as “a real mentor of mine” and said he wanted to be involved in whatever the director was making. In The Odyssey, Scott plays a Greek bard who performs about Odysseus’ victories in the Trojan War.

The excitement came with a serious case of nerves. Scott said he was “nervous as F” about the part, especially once he learned who else was in the cast. He named Hathaway, Holland and Pattinson, then added that the set was filled with “a bunch of amazing people” while he felt unsure of what he was doing.

Scott credited Nolan and the cast with helping him settle in. He told Fallon that Nolan was “an amazing director,” that everyone made him comfortable, and that he was happy to watch the filmmaker work.

The secrecy around the role was not the problem, Scott said. The harder part, he told Fallon, was persuading people that he had earned the spot. He said he did not want audiences to think he had been merely inserted into the film.

Music eventually came back into the picture. Scott said he hoped Nolan would ask him to make an end credits track, but that conversation did not happen until the director had a cut of the movie.

Scott worked on “When I’m Home” with Ludwig Göransson, who also scored the film, and James Blake. Scott said he directed the video for the track, which is set to be released next week.

Nolan previously explained to Rolling Stone why he cast Scott in The Odyssey, saying the choice connected to the story’s roots in oral poetry and that rap offered an analogy to that tradition.

Scott now joins a short list of musicians Nolan has brought into his films. David Bowie played Nikola Tesla in The Prestige, while Harry Styles appeared as Alex in Dunkirk, one of the singer’s earliest major acting roles.

This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.