‘The Odyssey’ Star Samantha Morton ‘Hasn’t Worked for a Year’ After Making Nolan’s Epic Because ‘I’m 49’ Years Old and ‘There’s Other Good Actors Out There’
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- Samantha Morton revealed on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast that she has gone an entire year without acting work since wrapping production on Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' in 2025, attributing the gap to her age and industry politics
- Morton, 49, said she has 'really good agents and a manager' but 'there are other good actors out there,' arguing that 'the politics of the industry has changed massively' for older actresses
- Christopher Nolan personally called Morton to offer the role of the witch Circe opposite Matt Damon, which she said gave her 'hope and faith' that she could keep working as she ages
- Morton earned the best reviews of her career and Oscar buzz for Circe, with Variety ranking her performance as the movie's best among the sprawling ensemble cast
- Morton has worked steadily since 1991, with credits including Steven Spielberg's 'Minority Report,' 'The Walking Dead,' and Oscar-nominated turns in 'Sweet and Lowdown' and 'In America'
- Morton also recounted being dropped from Spike Jonze's 'Her' after filming wrapped — she was the original voice of the chatbot Samantha, reading lines on set with Joaquin Phoenix before being replaced by Scarlett Johansson in post-production
Why it matters: Morton is a two-time Oscar nominee whom Variety ranked as the standout performer in a $700M-plus Nolan epic, yet she still went a full year without a single booking. Her public attribution of the drought to age — at 49 — puts a high-profile face on the well-documented squeeze on mid-career women in Hollywood, where critical acclaim no longer reliably translates into employment.
