Christopher Nolan Reveals ‘The Odyssey’ Was Shot on Over 2 Million Feet of Film

Christopher Nolan is heading back to the big screen in 2026 with what might be his most ambitious project yet.

His new film, The Odyssey, is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic and promises to be a massive, ocean-spanning adventure. Universal Pictures announced the film in December 2024, describing it as Nolan’s follow-up to Oppenheimer.

Nolan recently shared that they “shot over two million feet of film” for the project, most of it on the open ocean.

He explained to Empire, “It’s pretty primal … We got the cast out there on the real waves, in the real places. 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.”

The movie stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who faces countless challenges on his long journey home after the Trojan War. Anne Hathaway plays Penelope, and the cast also includes Tom Holland, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.

According to Universal, Nolan began writing the screenplay in early 2024 and secured the project later that year. Filming took place from February to August across multiple locations including Greece, Italy, Morocco, Iceland, Scotland, and Western Sahara. The film reportedly cost around $250 million to make, making it the most expensive of Nolan’s career. It’s also the first movie he’s ever shot entirely using IMAX 70mm film cameras.

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