Christopher Nolan Explains Why He Wanted to Make ‘The Odyssey’

When Christopher Nolan, a filmmaker known for making films larger than basically anyone else, implies his new film will be his biggest yet, you have to take note. The director is hard at work completing The Odyssey, an adaptation of the epic Greek poem by Homer, and in a new interview, explained why this was the film he wanted to do next.

“Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s producer] said it best when we first announced the project: it’s foundational,†Nolan told Empire Magazine. “There’s a bit of everything in it. I mean, it truly contains all stories… As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before. And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with—Ray Harryhausen movies and other things—I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.â€

Think about “all of this great mythological cinematic work†that Nolan is probably referencing here. He mentions Harryhausen, of course, but he’s also got to mean things like Star Wars, 2001, Gladiator, etc. Those are also, at their core, “mythological.†So basically what he’s implying is, “Well, that was big, but what if I made it even bigger?†Which is crazy.

To capture this epic of epics, Nolan reveals he shot two million feet of IMAX film and spent four months shooting scenes in the ocean. “It’s pretty primal!†Nolan said of shooting in the ocean. “I’ve been out on it for the last four months. We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus’ ship out there on the real waves, in the real places. And yeah, it’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift. We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world.â€

It sounds like basically everything about The Odyssey is following an “unmapped, uncharted world.†It’s the first theatrical movie to shoot entirely in IMAX. The first theatrical movie to sell movie tickets one year in advance. And, soon, we’ll get to learn more and see a trailer too.

Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, and so many others, The Odyssey will be released on July 17, 2026.

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