Samantha Morton On Why She “Hasn’t Worked For A Year” Since ‘The Odyssey’ & Why She Was “Sad” & “Hurt” After Getting “Fired” From ‘Her’
Actress Samantha Morton has revealed she went a year without work after filming Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, in which she played the witch-goddess Circe. Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the 49-year-old said that despite having strong representation, shifting industry politics have made steady work harder to secure, even for an actor she believes remains highly capable.
Morton also discussed being replaced by Scarlett Johansson's voice in Spike Jonze's 2023 film Her, after recording her lines on set opposite Joaquin Phoenix as the AI character Samantha. She admitted the experience was "sad" and "hurt", saying she had hoped for another chance to record in an American accent, though she praised Johansson's performance. Since finishing The Odyssey, Morton has landed new roles, including the thriller Love and War and Amazon's crime series Dirty alongside Phoebe Dynevor.
- Morton says she hasn't worked in a year since The Odyssey
- She was replaced by Scarlett Johansson in Her, felt "hurt"
- Morton is now set to star in Love and War and Dirty
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Samantha Morton is a British actress known for films such as Minority Report and In America, and more recently for playing Circe in Christopher Nolan's upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey. She has also worked with high-profile directors including Spike Jonze, who cast her in his 2013 film Her as the voice of an artificial intelligence character called Samantha.
Morton recorded her performance in Her on set, acting opposite Joaquin Phoenix, but her voice work was later replaced with a new recording by Scarlett Johansson before the film's release. This kind of recasting is unusual and has occasionally happened in Hollywood productions, though it is rarely discussed openly by the actors involved.
The wider context is the film industry's often unpredictable nature, where even established, well-regarded actors can face long gaps between roles depending on shifting industry trends, casting decisions, and available projects. Morton's comments touch on both a specific past experience and a broader reflection on how such uncertainty affects working actors.