Christopher Nolan has revealed he shot The Odyssey at sea to “capture how hard” Odysseus’ epic journey would have been.
READ MORE: ‘The Odyssey’ could be Christopher Nolan’s biggest blockbuster yet
The blockbuster auteur’s next film will be a huge adaptation of the ancient Green epic poem by Homer, with an all-star cast including Matt Damon in the lead role as the Greek king of Ithaca who is on his long journey home after the Trojan War to reunite with his wife Penelope.
Tom Holland will play Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, while Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton and Mia Goth will also star.
In a new interview with Empire, Nolan has spoken for the first time about the scale of his ambition for the film, revealing that the 91-day shoot included using “over two million feet of film”.
Speaking about the experience of shooting out on the real-life ocean, he added: “It’s pretty primal! 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,” he continued. “By embracing the physicality of the real world in the making of the film, you do inform the telling of the story in interesting ways. Because you’re confronted on a daily basis by the world pushing back at you.”
The film is set to be released on July 17, 2026, with tickets for some IMAX 70mm screenings, Nolan’s preferred format, having gone on sale 12 months in advance and selling out within an hour.
One Nolan regular who will not be involved is Cillian Murphy, who has appeared in six of the director’s films, but has joked that he is “relieved” not to be involved but is “so excited” to see the film.
Page, meanwhile, has spoken of the “joy” of reuniting with Nolan, after having starred in Inception. “I was so excited to be thought of for [The Odyssey] and to be asked to come back to work with him,” he said. “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.”
The Odyssey comes highly anticipated after the success of Oppenheimer, a biopic of the inventor of the atomic bomb, which made over $975Million (£725Million) at the worldwide box office. At the 2024 Oscars, the film won seven awards including Best Picture, Best Director for Nolan.
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