Viking longship stars in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey

A Viking longship was used as Odysseus's vessel in Christopher Nolan's film The Odyssey, despite the Viking era beginning about 2,000 years after the Bronze Age setting of Homer's epic.

The ship, Draken Harald Harfagre, is the largest modern replica of a Viking ship, with tar-soaked rigging, an oak deck and 50 spruce oars. For the film, it was stripped of its dragon figurehead and sailed in Greek, Italian and Scottish waters.

Nolan said the ship had the shape and rig needed for a Bronze Age vessel and that its crew worked with the actors to raise the sail, rig the ship and row. Matt Damon plays Odysseus in the film.

Emanuel Persson, expedition director for Draken, said the film would have been different without the real ship, crew, ocean and weather. Captain Bjorn Ahlander said the actors spent long periods in cold and sometimes rough conditions without complaint.

Sailor Trammell Hudson said synchronising the rowers was difficult because the long oars could tangle. He said one oar hitting a wave threw him and his rowing partner into the air during filming.