Christopher Nolan used “over two million feet of film” to shoot The Odyssey.
The 2026 fantasy movie will adapt Homer’s Greek epic and is the 55-year-old director’s first project since Oppenheimer in 2023, and Nolan has now revealed the lengths he went to to bring the story’s grand scale to life.
During an interview with Empire Magazine, he said: “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.”
The Dark Knight director joked filming on open seas was “pretty primal,” adding principal photography for The Odyssey lasted 91 days.
Reflecting on his next film, Nolan explained he had chosen to adapt The Odyssey because he wanted to fill in “gaps in cinematic culture.”
He said: “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.”
The Odyssey follows the king of Ithaca Odysseus (Matt Damon) as he struggles to return home after the fall of Troy, confronting monsters, gods and the consequences of his own choices along the way.
Meanwhile, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus (Tom Holland) fight to protect their fractured kingdom as they await the man who may never return.
READ MORE: Every Christopher Nolan Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best
The Odyssey also stars Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Mia Goth, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway and Elliot Page. Recently, Page said it was “such a joy” to reunite with Nolan for The Odyssey after working on 2010’s Inception together.
Speaking at New York Comic Con, the 38-year-old actor said: “I was so excited to be thought of for [The Odyssey] and to be asked to come back to work with him.
“I loved working with him on Inception and loved being a part of that movie. I was just completely jazzed and excited, and [I] basically went and met with Chris and talked about the part, then sat in a room and read the script. It was such a joy to come back.”
“To come back now, as you can imagine, being more comfortable in yourself makes these sorts of projects more enjoyable. To get to have a Chris Nolan experience again now meant so much to me selfishly.”
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