As we know, Christopher Nolan’s upcoming “The Odyssey” marks the first full-narrative major studio feature to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras.
Speaking with Empire, some details of the film’s use of IMAX were revealed with the biggest revolution being the ‘blimp’, a new casing that significantly reduces the considerable noise that IMAX cameras produce and the big reason they’ve often had limited use in the past (along with physical size/weight).
Nolan explains: “You can be shooting a foot from [an actor’s] face while they’re whispering and get usable sound. What that opens up are intimate moments of performance on the world’s most beautiful format.”
To achieve this, he and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema ran a test using a child reciting David Bowie lyrics with the system, and the results were “electrifying”, says Nolan, who adds, “We never would have been able to get those shots before.”
As World of Reel points out, this could potentially solve the ‘Nolan Sound’ problem with the filmmaker’s movies often criticised for their sound mix that sees the score drowning out the dialogue.
In 2023, Nolan responded to the criticism by saying he doesn’t have his actors return after filming is done and do additional dialogue recordings (ADR) in post-production because he likes “to use the performance that was given in the moment rather than the actor revoice it later.”
He also indicated the IMAX camera noise interfered with quieter scenes – something that should no longer be a problem with the new system. We’ll find out when the film opens on July 17th 2026.
