Christopher Nolan says 'The Odyssey' used over 2 million feet of film and shot for 91 days: "You're looking for things that haven't been done before"
If you've missed big, myth-soaked adventures that actually feel big, Christopher Nolan (movies and tv series) is coming for that sweet spot. He told Empire he shot over 2 million feet of film on his new adaptation of Homer's "The Odyssey," with a production that ran 91 days earlier this year.
It's his first feature after "Oppenheimer," which got him Oscars for best picture and director. And he's blunt about the appeal: "As a filmmaker, you're looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven't been done before," he said, pointing to the kind of mythic storytelling he grew up on and how it hasn't often been treated with full A-budget weight and IMAX-scale ambition. You can read his full comments in Empire's interview.
Who's aboard
- Matt Damon (movies and tv series) as Odysseus
- Tom Holland (movies and tv series) as Telemachus
- Ensemble includes Anne Hathaway (movies and tv series), Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o (movies and tv series), Robert Pattinson (movies and tv series), Charlize Theron (movies and tv series), and Jon Bernthal (movies and tv series)
In true Nolan fashion, the shoot went as real as possible - including time on the open ocean. "It's vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift," he said. "We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people… By embracing the physicality of the real world… the world [is] pushing back at you." You can feel the salt in that sentence.
Damon sounds all-in, calling it "exactly what you want of a summer movie… the most massively entertaining" and, yeah, "mythic." He also says it was the best experience of his career, the kind where you show up and there's a full-scale Trojan horse sitting on a beach and your first thought is simply: "Fuck." Sometimes the kid-in-a-candy-store test says more than a press release ever could.
Here's the quick context if you're scheduling coverage or exhibition: Nolan's framing this as a proper big-screen event - the kind of production that lives in IMAX and practical scale. That ocean work, the locations, the sheer volume of film - it all points to texture you can see and feel, not just hear about.
For anyone brushing up before the trailers land, Homer's original epic is worth a skim; it's the spine of countless adventure tales for a reason. A solid primer is here: Britannica on The Odyssey.
Release date: Universal Pictures is set to open "The Odyssey" on July 17, 2026. Mark it. If the finished film matches the ambition Nolan's hinting at, this one aims to be the summer spectacle that actually earns the word.
