The Odyssey finally fulfills Christopher Nolan’s lifelong dream

Bit of a dream project alert here—if you know anything about Christopher Nolan (and if you pay any attention to blockbuster cinema, why wouldn’t you?), you’ll know he’s a filmmaker somewhat obsessed with both scale and detail. Well, it turns out his newest outing, The Odyssey—yes, the Greek epic, as in Odysseus fighting monsters and getting lost for years—ticks off one of his lifelong ambitions. And no, it’s not just reinventing Homer for IMAX crowds, though let’s be honest, that would be enough for a lot of directors.

Why Nolan Is Chuffed to Bits About The Odyssey

Here’s the bit that makes film nerds and tech heads sit up: The Odyssey is the first film Nolan’s managed to shoot entirely on custom-made IMAX cameras. He’s been after this achievement since he was 16. Most of his previous blockbusters—think The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and Tenet—only used IMAX for specific sequences. The main reason? IMAX cameras used to make a racket that’d drown out anyone trying to act. Not exactly ideal when you’ve got Oscar-winners muttering epic monologues.

'For me, it’s been my long-held dream, since I was about 16 years old, to do an entire film on IMAX. The thing that was stopping us was always the sound.'

That’s Nolan in a new behind-the-scenes featurette, basically admitting he’s been biding his time for the tech to catch up. Cameras got quieter over the years, but apparently not quiet enough for his liking.

Solving the ‘IMAX Is Too Bloody Noisy’ Problem

The main snag was that IMAX cameras were famously disruptive on set. Emma Thomas, producer and Nolan’s regular collaborator (and also his wife, for anyone taking notes), says they challenged IMAX to either make the cameras as silent as possible or at least muffle them somehow. IMAX came back with two things: a brand-new camera and a special ‘blimp’—no, not the Zeppelin kind, just a heavy-duty casing—to keep the noise down.

This new, beefed-up camera isn’t exactly light, but as the film’s director of photography, Hoyte Van Hoytema, says: 'As filmmakers, we’re not supposed to be comfortable. We’re supposed to present the audience with the best experience possible.' A sentiment very much in line with the Nolan doctrine, if you’ve seen any of his films or interviews.

What’s The Odyssey Actually About and Who’s In It?

In case you somehow missed this bit, The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, trying to get home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he bumps into an astonishingly dangerous collection of creatures—Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, Calypso—the usual suspects you get in 2,700-year-old Greek poems.

• Matt Damon as Odysseus
• Anne Hathaway
• Zendaya
• Tom Holland
• Robert Pattinson
• Elliot Page
• Lupita Nyong'o
• Mia Goth
• Jon Bernthal
• Himesh Patel
• Benny Safdie

That’s your main cast, and if you reckon that reads like a fever dream assembled from a decade’s worth of big-budget awards darlings and action stars, you’re not wrong. The film’s due to hit UK cinemas (and everywhere else, presumably) on 17 July 2026.