First Look: ‘The Odyssey’ Has Striking New Images — Christopher Nolan Shot Over Two Million Feet of Film

UPDATE: Here are the first excerpts from the Nolan interview, where he describes the film as “foundational,” and “primal.”

There’s a bit of everything in it. I mean, it truly contains all stories. 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.

Given the massive undertaking, Nolan made sure to not miss the opportunity to shoot a lot of footage — over two million feet of it!

We shot over two million feet of film [..] 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.

I googled how many hours of footage two million feet of IMAX film would yield, and the answer I got was 139 hours. Yeah, this movie will probably end up being over three hours

Matt Damon on playing Odysseus:

I can say, without hyperbole, that it was the best experience of my career.

Nolan also mentions that the desire to make “The Odyssey” originated from being originally offered to direct “Troy,” the 2004 film starring Brad Pitt that explored similar territory. Instead, he went on to make “Batman Begins,” and the rest, as they say, is history.

EARLIER: Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” promises to be huge — an ambitious undertaking: a sweeping adaptation of one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring myths.

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, hitting newsstands next Thursday, Nolan and “The Odyssey” are front and center in what will likely be a major first look at the upcoming epic. More details will be trickling in the coming days, but for now, we have a tease, two new images, and the artwork for “The Odyssey,” seen below.

The issue includes the very first images from the film, detailed interviews with Nolan and his lead — Matt Damon — and no doubt some of the most pertaining questions we have about this project, hopefully, answered.