One of the — if not the No. 1 — most anticipated movies of the year arrived at CinemaCon on Wednesday, as Christopher Nolan showed off some new footage from The Odyssey during Universal’s presentation.
Following a compilation video of his past work, the filmmaker took the stage to a standing ovation, joking he was glad not to be following Steven Spielberg. He mused, “Why The Odyssey? It’s a story that has fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years; it’s not a story, but the story. I wanted to grab the exciting opportunity of bringing it to a modern cinema audience.”
Nolan spoke about realizing his dream of capturing the entire film on Imax and joked of the star-studded cast, “it would be quicker for me to tell you who isn’t in The Odyssey” than who is. He said he decided to appear solo because the weight of their talents would collapse the stage. He specifically highlighted his “partner” Matt Damon, admitting “this film has been an absolute nightmare to film” and he’s sure the leading man would agree.
Nolan revealed he was almost finished with the cut before throwing to some footage, which began with Damon’s Odysseus asking Calypso (played by Charlize Theron), “How long have I been here, Calypso? I don’t remember anything before Troy. Did I have a wife, children, a son? If I had a son, how old would he be now?” as clips of a younger Odysseus with his son (Tom Holland) and wife (Anne Hathaway) flashed.
The footage then cut to one of The Odyssey‘s most iconic stories, when the Greeks hid inside a wooden horse during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. We first see the Trojan Horse in the sea, with the men inside fighting for their lives not to drown. They are pulled into the city, where they wait until night to come out and launch their attack, led by Damon and Jon Bernthal, as the men go running through the city.
The Odyssey is an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic, with Damon playing the Greek king of Ithaca on a long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War as he attempts to reunite with his wife Penelope. The 10-year journey is filled with interruptions and influence from the gods (not to mention a few cyclopes), as back home Penelope and Odysseus’s son Telemachus must contend with aggressive suitors who have designs on the throne.
The star-studded cast also features Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Samantha Morton, Ryan Hurst and Travis Scott. The Odyssey is set for a July 17 theatrical release, and serves as Nolan’s follow-up to his blockbuster best picture winner Oppenheimer.
Buzz around the film has been high for months — with tickets to see it in Imax 70mm on opening day sold out a year in advance — and has been fueled by the cast; Holland recently called it “an absolute masterpiece, and I’m taking myself out of that equation.” He continued, “It’s unlike anything that I’ve ever seen before. I think when I saw the movie, I found myself asking a question that I haven’t asked about a movie for a long time, which is, ‘How did you do that?’”
