The anticipation surrounding Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film adaptation of the Odyssey has intensified recently with the release of a new trailer and the director’s appearance on Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show, where he provided a rare interview.
As new details about the film, set to premiere on July 17, emerge, it is an opportune moment to reflect on what is known about Nolan’s interpretation of Homer’s classic Greek epic, featuring Matt Damon in the role of Odysseus. One of the key questions is how closely the film will adhere to the original narrative.
Information about the film has been gradually unveiled over the past ten months, beginning with a teaser that was shown in theaters before screenings of Jurassic World Rebirth in July. A six-minute “prologue” was released in December, followed by a trailer that debuted online just before Christmas. More footage was shared by Nolan at the CinemaCon trade show last month, leading up to this week’s new trailer release.
The trailers indicate that the film will showcase many of the Odyssey’s most iconic characters and scenes, including glimpses of the Cyclops, the whirlpool Charybdis, and Odysseus calling forth the spirits of the deceased. The latest trailer highlights the turmoil on Odysseus’ home island of Ithaca, featuring Robert Pattinson as Antinous, a prominent suitor vying for Odysseus’ wife, Penelope (played by Anne Hathaway), while also causing distress for their son, Telemachus (portrayed by Tom Holland).
Nolan has incorporated the legendary wooden horse, a clever strategy devised by Odysseus to allow the Greeks to infiltrate Troy, which is depicted in both the initial trailer and December’s prologue. Although Homer does not narrate the story of the wooden horse in the Odyssey, it is referenced; Odysseus requests a bard to recount the tale, and the Spartan king Menelaus mentions it during Telemachus’ visit seeking news of his father.
Details regarding Nolan’s portrayal of the enchantress Circe transforming men into swine remain to be seen, as does the sound design for the Sirens, crafted by composer Ludwig Göransson. However, it appears that a significant portion, if not all, of the Odyssey’s most memorable elements will be adapted for the screen, including Odysseus’ dog, Argos, who makes an appearance in the new trailer.
As a leading figure in creating intellectually engaging blockbusters since directing the Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan seems well-suited for this adaptation, given the Odyssey’s expansive narrative and its enduring themes of familial bonds, return, and vengeance.
“You’re always searching for something that hasn’t been done before,” Nolan shared with Colbert on Monday, discussing his attraction to the project. “Greek mythology… hasn’t really been explored on a large-budget, mainstream scale. It’s one of the greatest adventure tales, and I wanted to ensure it receives the respect it deserves.”
It is somewhat surprising that the Odyssey has yet to receive a definitive film adaptation. The epic film trend of the 1950s and 1960s largely drew from biblical and Roman sources rather than Greek mythology, although there was a lighter Italian “peplum” film from that era: Ulysses (1954), starring Kirk Douglas. The Return, released last year and featuring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, focused on the latter events of the Odyssey but left out much of the vivid material. The most noteworthy adaptations have been for television, including a notable eight-part Italian series from 1968 and a 1997 mini-series featuring Armand Assante and Greta Scacchi.
Nolan’s fascination with the Odyssey can be traced back to his interest generated by the last significant film adaptation of Homer, Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy (2004), which took considerable liberties with the Iliad. Nolan was initially considered to take over from Petersen when the German director shifted focus to a Batman v Superman project. When that fell through, Petersen returned to Troy, leaving Nolan to work on Batman Begins, which launched him into the ranks of Hollywood’s leading directors and established his reputation as a master of blockbuster filmmaking.
Despite this shift, Nolan’s desire to create a Greek epic persisted. “It was a world I was very eager to explore,” he remarked to Empire last year. “Certain images, especially how I envisioned the Trojan horse, have lingered in my mind for a long time.”
The complexity of the Odyssey’s narrative is likely another aspect that attracted Nolan, as it is remarkably sophisticated for an early literary work. “It’s the original non-linear narrative,” he noted to Colbert. Nolan has embraced this style of storytelling since his early works, effectively employing it in his breakout film Memento (2000). His fascination with time’s mechanics is also evident in the intricate plots of Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet.
While the poem does not explore wormholes or inverted timelines, it features multiple narrative threads and alternates between the tales of Odysseus and Telemachus, a technique that foreshadows modern cross-cutting. Many of the Odyssey’s most celebrated episodes, including Odysseus’ encounters with the Cyclops and Circe, his meetings with the spirits of his fallen comrades, and his confrontations with the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis, are recounted in flashbacks by Odysseus while he is hosted by the Phaeacians. Other tales are presented as anecdotes or digressions.
Nolan has confirmed that the film will begin in Ithaca, mirroring the poem’s opening without Odysseus present. In another indication of his commitment to fidelity to the source material, he appears to have retained the involvement of the gods, with Zendaya reported to be cast as Athena, who plays a pivotal role as the protector of both Odysseus and Telemachus in the poem.
