Production on Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” began in February, and shooting is only a little more than halfway done; they actually just left Europe and moved production to L.A. for soundstage shooting on the Universal lot.
Stunt coordinator James Newman is now sharing his experience working on Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
In a since-deleted episode of the Action for Everyone podcast, Newman discussed the grand scale of The Odyssey’s production, hinting at the epic nature of the project. He mentioned that Nolan has been exploring untouched, never-before-filmed locations to bring the story to life.
They’re never going to make a movie like this again. I think it’s going to be an epic of all epics. It’s going to be Nolan at his best. No holds barred. He fights a battle that a lot of people aren’t fighting. The coordinator came to us with scout pictures of locations, and it’s just all over Europe because Odysseus’ journey is crazy, it’s like 10 years long.
They found locations, and Nolan would go like, ‘Okay, this cave, has anyone ever filmed here before?’ And the local guy is like, ‘No.’ [Nolan] is like, ‘Okay, great, we’re going to film here.’ This like untouched place. He wants to be the first person there to do it, he wants to feel like no one has ever touched ground here. And every location is a hike. There’s a castle, I think it’s Odysseus’ home, but it’s up on a hill and it’s like a two-kilometre hike to get up there.”
“The Odyssey” is as epic as it gets. An adaptation of this massive poem, composed by Homer around the 8th century BCE, is almost guaranteed to result in a film exceeding three hours in length. It’s also shaping up to be the biggest risk of Nolan’s career, as the source material has long been deemed “unfilmable,” unfit for the screen, and I still believe that to be the case. Good luck, Chris.
The film reportedly has a budget of around $250M and will utilize brand-new, state-of-the-art IMAX cameras, with cinematography by Nolan’s go-to DP, Hoyte Van Hoytema.
While the film centers on Matt Damon’s portrayal of Odysseus, and his arduous journey home following the Trojan War, Nolan’s film has one of the most impressive casts in recent memory, including the likes of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal and Mia Goth.
“The Odyssey” is set to hit theaters on July 17, 2026.
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