New Photos: Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”

By
Garth Franklin
-
Universal Pictures

New artwork and photos have been released from Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the new material released as part of a big preview issue of Empire Magazine.

Matt Damon tells the magazine that “I can say, without hyperbole, that it was the best experience of my career” and says Nolan won’t shy away from the mythological aspects:

“If you’re going to have an existential crisis as you pass the Sirens and you’re lashed to a mast, it’s there. If it says you’re running for your life from a Cyclops, you’re going to run for your life. Chris doesn’t hide the ball.”

Nolan is also not an obsessively meticulous planner it seems, and so is able to wing it when needed. Damon saying:

“We were shooting that [Trojan horse] stuff next week, so I go, ‘How are you going to do it?’ And [Nolan] goes, ‘I don’t know. We’ll just get in there and figure it out.’”

Nolan says the whole thing is a “foundational” work that’s “pretty primal” and stated his main goal was to do something not really being done right now:

“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.”

Nolan says they shot over two million feet of film across the 91-day shoot with much of that out on the ocean, where Odysseus sets sail:

“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.

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 tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his perilous journey home after the Trojan War, exploring themes of heroism, loyalty, cunning, and the struggle against divine will. It includes iconic episodes like his encounters with the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe, culminating in his reunion with his wife, Penelope.

Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth and Corey Hawkins co-star.

“The Odyssey” will be released in cinemas on July 17th 2026.