Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is descending upon us steadily like a ship sailing ever closer to a siren. While we’ve seen plenty of clips in the trailers, there are still more surprises in store, including an apparently mind-blowing performance from Samantha Morton as Circe. But for many fans, it’s not the human characters that are the most anticipated — it’s the creatures. The Odyssey is, in a way, the original creature feature, full of monsters like the cyclops Polyphemus, the six-headed Scylla, and even some magical pigs. But in order to create monsters that will vibe with his realistic point of view and the awe-inspiring element of the original story, Nolan went straight to the master: Guillermo del Toro.Christopher Nolan took inspiration from Guillermo del Toro while creating the mythical creatures for The Odyssey. | Michael Kovac/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesIn a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Nolan revealed that for The Odyssey, the design of the monsters was heavily inspired by Guillermo del Toro. The Scylla specifically was cited as a monster influenced by del Toro’s work. “I was very inspired by Guillermo del Toro,” he said. “What I learned from him is that a monster is not a monster. You have to approach them the way you approach any other character.”It’s no surprise that Nolan turned to del Toro’s catalogue for inspiration. The Oscar-winning filmmaker behind films like The Shape of Water and Frankenstein, made us fall in love with fish men, cower from eyeless Pale Men, and root for demonspawn. He’s perhaps the greatest sci-fi horror filmmaker of all time.But The Odyssey takes its inspiration from more than just del Toro. Polyphemus was heavily inspired by Goya’s painting of Saturn devouring his children. It’s definitely a more historical reference, but it’s still in line with del Toro’s gory-yet-artistic aesthetic. “That was very much the inspiration,” Nolan says. “We had it up on the wall. Whenever we brought in a new technology, that was the first thing we showed them.”Renowned theater actor and clown Bill Irwin plays the cyclops Polyphemus in The Odyssey. | Universal PicturesBut one of Del Toro’s most powerful tools is the casting of the actors who portray his creatures. One of his longtime collaborators is Doug Jones, who has portrayed ghoulish characters in everything from Mimic to The Shape of Water. Aside from his tall, lean build, Jones is especially suited to this work because of his experience as a mime and contortionist. He has control over his body to portray characters that aren’t quite human. Nolan has his own answer to this: Bill Irwin, a longtime theater actor who has similar experience to Jones, plus a little extra. He’s also a renowned clown, best known as Mr. Noodle’s brother Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street. “In addition to being a great actor, he’s a mime, a clown, he knows how to use his physicality. He was the essence of it,” Nolan said. So even if GDT wasn’t involved directly with this movie, all of his best tricks are on obvious display.The Odyssey premieres in theaters on July 17.