Oscar nominee Samantha Morton says she still struggles to land roles, even with “good agents”
Samantha Morton says she couldn’t find roles after The Odyssey — even as the film helps turbocharge the box office.
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Samantha Morton said the phone has been unusually quiet since she wrapped work on Christopher Nolan ’s epic The Odyssey — even with top representation in her corner and nearly 30 years of work behind her.
“I’ve got really good agents and a manager, but at the end of the day, I’m 49. I do believe I’m a good actor, but there are other good actors out there,”
The 49-year-old Oscar nominee didn’t frame it as a complaint so much as a reality check about how age still shapes who gets called in first. She’s been here before, she suggested — and she’s still waiting to see what comes next after Nolan’s film.
Morton’s résumé has stayed busy across movies and TV in recent years, including:
- The Whale
- She Said
- The Serpent Queen
In The Odyssey, she plays Circe, the sorceress who waylays Odysseus and his crew; critics singled out her scenes for their charge and control amid the film’s sprawling scale.
Record weekend, big numbers
While Morton waits on new offers, the movie she’s in is part of a box-office surge. The weekend of July 31, 2026 set a new high-water mark for theaters worldwide as Spider- Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey combined for an estimated $430 million globally — only the second time a weekend has cleared the $400 million line and a figure that tops the benchmark set by Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
- $355 million — domestic debut for Spider-Man: Brand New Day (second-biggest opening ever)
- $927 million — Spider-Man: Brand New Day worldwide opening
- $51 million — The Odyssey’s third-weekend haul, pushing it past $911 million worldwide
With that pace, The Odyssey is on track to become Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film, poised to overtake both The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.