{"id":802977,"date":"2026-08-05T01:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802977\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:24:13","slug":"samantha-morton-on-ageism-the-odyssey-and-getting-fired-from-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/802977\/","title":{"rendered":"Samantha Morton on Ageism, The Odyssey and Getting Fired From Her"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSamantha Morton<\/a> revealed on the \u201cHappy Sad Confused\u201d podcast that she has been out of acting work for an entire year since wrapping production on Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey<\/a>\u201d in 2025. The two-time Oscar nominee attributed her age as the reason why. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI haven\u2019t worked for a year since making\u00a0\u2018The Odyssey,\u2019 you know, and I\u2019ve got really good agents and a manager, but at the end of the day, I\u2019m 49,\u201d Morton said. \u201cI do believe I\u2019m a good actor, [but] there are other good actors out there. Do you know what I mean? So, the politics of the industry has changed massively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMorton said that when Nolan called her to offer her the role of the witch Circe in \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d opposite Matt Damon that it afforded her \u201chope and faith, that, I suppose, if you keep at it, and you keep producing good work, and that the right people see it, then maybe you can carry on working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 49-year-old has been a working actor since 1991 and her career spans major Hollywood movies (Steven Spielberg\u2019s \u201cMinority Report\u201d) and franchises (\u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d) in addition to indie dramas that have garnered her Oscar nominations (\u201cSweet and Lowdown,\u201d \u201cIn America\u201d) and various awards. Morton has earned some of the best reviews of her career and Oscar buzz for playing Circe in \u201cThe Odyssey.\u201d Variety ranked her as the movie\u2019s best performance<\/a> among the sprawling ensemble cast.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I got the call [from Chris Nolan], I started to cry,\u201d Morton previously told Variety<\/a> about landing Circe. \u201cThen we had a get to know you chat, and I read the script. But I didn\u2019t know if it would go any further. So when he called and said, \u2018Would you like to do it?\u2019 I was blown away. He could have anybody on the planet, and he chose me\u2026 As you get older as an actress, roles like this are just few and far between.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMorton also opened up on the \u201cHappy Sad Confused\u201d podcast about one of her lowest points as an actor, which is when she was dropped from Spike Jonze\u2019s \u201cHer\u201d after filming already wrapped. Morton was the original voice of the chatbot Samantha, who Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s character falls in love with. Morton read her lines aloud on set with Phoenix during production was booted from the movie and replaced by Scarlett Johansson in post production. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI have to say, I think my version of Samantha was very\u2026 she\u2019s English,\u201d Morton said on the podcast. \u201cIt was just very, very different. And I think Scarlett Johansson has a beautiful voice. She\u2019s incredibly evocative. It\u2019s, you know\u2026 I got it, but I was sad\u2026 It does hurt when you\u2019re fired from something or before it. I don\u2019t know. What I\u2019d have wished for was another chance in a booth to do an American accent. But I think, you know, Scarlett Johansson! I mean, come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch Morton\u2019s full interview on the \u201cHappy Sad Confused\u201d in the video below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samantha Morton revealed on the \u201cHappy Sad Confused\u201d podcast that she has been out of acting work for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,110245,12720],"class_list":["post-802977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-samantha-morton","tag-the-odyssey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}