Men's Health July 20, 2026 0 Comments

Benny Safdie’s Unexpected Transformation as Agamemnon: The Power Move Behind The Odyssey You Can’t Miss!

Ever wondered how a character with just a few fleeting moments on screen can steal the whole show? Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, The Odyssey, brings that very magic to life — packing a sprawling cast where some roles are as colossal in impact as they are brief in screen time. From iconic names like Matt Damon and Anne Hathaway to the powerhouse presence of Lupita Nyong’o, this modern take on Homer’s ancient tale is anything but predictable. But it’s Benny Safdie’s portrayal of Agamemnon — the Greek king draped in towering armor and dark energy — that really makes you stop and stare. How does someone turn “limited screen time” into an unforgettable screen presence? Let’s dive into the beast behind the armor, the aura farming king who commands The Odyssey in ways few others can.

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THERE ARE A lot of characters in Christopher Nolan’s new epic The Odyssey, the adaptation of Homer’s ancient poem of the same name. And while a lot of actors get to sink their teeth into meaty roles—including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Himesh Patel, and John Leguizamo, among others—others were left to make their impact in just a limited amount of time on screen.

Lupita Nyong’o owned the screen in her handful of moments playing the dual role of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. Jon Bernthal did his thing in a different register than usual as Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Elliot Page brought the movie a major chunk of its emotional core in his small role as Sinon. And that’s just to mention a few.

One role that’s huge, both literally and figuratively in The Odyssey—despite limited screen time—is that of Agamemnon, the Greek king of Mycenae and the commander of the Achaeans during the Trojan War. Agamemnon was a brutal, determined leader, someone who sought victory and power at any cost, and who became something of a (misguided) north star for Odysseus to follow.

Nolan’s version of Agamemnon not only leads the Achaeans in their horse-led siege on Troy, but he becomes the biggest, baddest, most intimidating (human) figure in the whole movie. Benny Safdie plays Agamemnon throughout the movie in towering and imposing armor that without question brings the likes of Darth Vader and Magneto to mind, when it comes to cinematic figures who wear dark armor and have dark energy.

Safdie only has a few moments on screen, but his physicality and presence make them really, really impactful and memorable. In fact, many online have said that his Agamemnon is “aura farming” (a phrase defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the act of doing something to look cool, impressive, stylish, etc.”), and just looking at how he moves through the film (and how Nolan and his cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shoot him) makes that a pretty fair assessment.

“I had not done anything like this, where the physicality of that was so important,” Safdie told Talk of the Townsends in an interview. “As you’re walking you can feel things clanking, and your helmet’s kind of moving around… Agamemnon can’t be floppy. Especially if he’s gonna turn around, he’s gonna turn with his whole body. You want everything to be stationary and strong, and so if somebody talks to you, and you turn [like he does], it’s a pretty aggressive move. But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Hey, you asked a question, give me the answer.’ There’s a certain level of confidence [in Agamemnon] that you just need to accept.”

Safdie only has a handful of scenes depicted during flashbacks in the film before a scene depicting Hades shows us his own post-Trojan War backstory. But Nolan lives up to his reputation, working with Safdie to make this character not only a physically imposing beast on screen, but a figure we’ll always remember with this film.

Benny Safdie plays Agamemnon in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey

Mike Marsland//Getty Images

The Odyssey marks Safdie’s second collaboration as an actor with Christopher Nolan, after he appeared as Hungarian physicist Edward Teller in Oppenheimer (You certainly remember the character, the performance, and the memes).

Safdie, who is perhaps even better known for his work behind the camera as a director (with his brother, Josh, for movies like Good Time and Uncut Gems and solo last year for The Smashing Machine), talked to Men’s Health last year about his experiences with Nolan and what acting under his guidance taught him. “There’s a spontaneity to the way Christopher Nolan works,” he said. “He has a very direct idea of what he wants to get, but the way he gets it is very exciting. I thought, ‘Oh, well, maybe there’s some things I could do that create a similar environment.’”

In addition to his roles in Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, Safdie has appeared in a number of other notable parts, including in his own film Good Time (opposite The Odyssey costar Robert Pattinson), Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, and the television series The Curse, which he appeared in alongside Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder. He also played the villain in last year’s Happy Gilmore 2 and voiced Bowser Junior in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie earlier this year.

Next up for Safdie will be Lizard Music, a film based on author Daniel Pinkwater’s children’s book of the same name that will mark a reunion with Dwayne Johnson after the two worked together on The Smashing Machine. Don’t be too turned off by “children’s book,” though. “It’s about a kid who finds an island of human-sized lizards who are sentient and can speak, and yet it’s this beautiful adventure of discovery and it’s fun and it’s wild,” Safdie said. “And Dwayne takes him there, and he’s going to be a 70-year-old man. That’s a wild thing. But I’m like, of course he can do it, and we’re going to do this together.”

Buy The Odyssey Tickets here

Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.