Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey"

[Andrew NDB]

First image:



Comes out July 17th of next year. Cast includes Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Corey Hawkins, Mia Goth, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Nick Tarabay, Will Yun Lee, Bill Irwin, Jesse Garcia, Shiloh Fernandez, Rafi Gavron, Maurice Compte and Jimmy Gonzales.

[Barkworm]

I love hating on Hollywood for its lack if original ideas. But THIS is an ambitious project.

[Andrew NDB]

I was a little bit worried this might end up being some kind of "modern spin" on The Odyssey. ala, the DiCaprio version of Romeo & Juliet, or something. Glad to see not so.

[Andrew NDB]

Pics of Tom Holland and Nolan on set:

https://www.darkhorizons.com/set-pho...s-the-odyssey/

[IMJ]

He should've gotten Sean Bean as Odysseus and done a true-unofficial sequel to Troy. Love, love, love Troy. Love it.

[ranger_scout]

I was looking forward to this until Elliott Page was cast. Page is a bratty little diva.

[Andrew NDB]

Wrapped. This is gonna be a beast.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/nolans-...wraps-filming/

[Andrew NDB]

[IMJ]

Really looking forward to this given that I haven't had a good "new" sword and sandals sit down maybe since "Spartacus" was a show. Gladiator II was.... a product of it's era.

Mostly curious here if Nolan is going to "real it up" or if he's going full-on Sirens of the sea.

On that note Sirens of the Sea is a great album by a band called Oceanlab - worth picking up if you can find or afford a copy.

[Barkworm]

Originally Posted by IMJ

Mostly curious here if Nolan is going to "real it up" or if he's going full-on Sirens of the sea.

That would be horrible, wouldn‘t it? The fantasy parts are integral to the story.

But you can briefly see the cyclops at 1:14 so it‘s probably all good.

[Andrew NDB]

I've been very worried about that myself. There's been interviews as well that have made me worry. About how all of these myths probably have real, grounded origins and all... pretty yikes stuff. But yeah, there's the cyclops apparently. But there could be trickery there... a dream, sleep deprivation hallucinations, etc..

[sdp]

Who the hell wants a realistic Odyssey? It's literally the first superhero story ever written.
Looking at that trailer Nolan's style as much as I like him feels old. It looks like a movie made in the late 2000s or early 2010s. We're now in 2026 and it feels so outdated for him to continue this style. It's like making a bullet time/trench coat movie in 2015 like the ones we used to get in the early 2000s, the time of that style has passed.

[IMJ]

The Nolan way:

The cyclops is a guy who has a facial deformity leaving him with one eye.
The sirens are wandering minstrels who settled down on a small island.
The Scylla is basically just a den of sea eels.

But it's all shot in a compelling fashion to quick cuts and low-key drum beats so as to brilliantly reveal that Odysseus was just a man seeking his way home all along rather than a brilliant elbow-fighter confronting the monsters of his world.

On that note I have pretty neat matched-set of the Illiad and the Odyssey here in my office. These copies are now 453 years old, published in 1572 in both latin and greek parallel text.



Now that I think about it, now might be the time to sell them....

[Andrew NDB]

Yeahhh... even something like Interstellar. There actually WAS aliens in the original scripts, then he replaced them with time-warped humans. Because if he could add one little layer of grounding, then let's do it. A super steroid that makes Bane bigger and more powerful? Nope, can't have that either.

Originally Posted by sdp

It looks like a movie made in the late 2000s or early 2010s. We're now in 2026 and it feels so outdated for him to continue this style.

What are these oh-so wonderful movies of the 2020s that triumphantly reject the "style" of the 2000s and 2010s? Can you name some?

[sdp]

Where did I say there were wonderful movies of the 2020s?
The style still feels dated at this point. There's a reason people no longer go to the movie theaters.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by sdp

Where did I say there were wonderful movies of the 2020s?
The style still feels dated at this point. There's a reason people no longer go to the movie theaters.

I think you are giving yourself too much credit for "sensing trends". Probably a better argument that people don't want to go to the theaters because:

1) Prices are outrageous for a 2 hour experience
2) It's a social gamble at any given point when people don't want to deal with other people's BS in public
3) It's become incredibly "picky and choosy" to pay for a movie because of "The Message" in any given movie, whereas people used to "just go to the movies" to "see that one, it looks good".

And I'd say only then after those three criteria interfered with the movie-going culture of America did people start to also realize "holy $#!( this place has a million dollar theater room but the surround sound isn't remotely engaged or calibrated and although the screen is "big" it doesn't even really look as good as my T.V.".

And to be honest, even after all of THAT? I imagine that if the theater, just like baseball games and other forms of Americana, became cheaper then once again people would flock back to these hobbies as "time fillers".

There's a cool brew 'n view theater near me that has these amazing thematic rooms of movie culture, a live waterfall and other cool attractions. I used to love it. Now? Going there is literally a 100 dollar "excursion" for two tickets and two dinners and some kind of soda and appetizer. It's outrageous.

The theater doesn't feel "dated". It's, instead become a questionable space.

[sdp]

It's not sensing trends, the data has been clear for a while now, i've been preaching about this for years. I mean it's only now that people are also finally realizing physical media is dead but ten years ago people were saying my data was wrong.

I didn't want to go on a rant here but yeah it's clearly for multiple factors. Your point 1 is true, though I'd add they are also doing it since they know people who do love theaters will pay for it and are just nickle and diming it. Your point 2 is a huge factor, it's so annoying to have babies crying, adults on their phone, people arriving late, people talking. And it's a gamble you might get a good audience or you might not, it's all the luck you have. Point 3 I don' think it's as big of a deal, at least not about 'the message' it's more about hollywood being creative bankrupt which we have discussed in another thread and mostly agree, but it goes way beyond the 'message'. I think you missed the biggest factor which is people can watch from their homes and have a pretty similar experience for a fraction of the price. So unless it's some type of event movie or experience that can only be done in cinema's most people are going to wait for streaming.

Ironically when a movie that gets people excited to go because i'ts an experience it's the movie theater elitists that shun them and complain to remove them, like the Wicked musical or Minecraft movies where they had to make "separate" editions for people who wanted to sing or meme during what is otherwise a generic movie.

[Andrew NDB]

So it LOOKS we will get giants and all that, and Nolan actually using CGI?

[ToTheNines]

What’s the verdict, Drome? I haven’t been yet, but it seems like everyone likes it except The Chuds.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by ToTheNines

What’s the verdict, Drome? I haven’t been yet, but it seems like everyone likes it except The Chuds.

I came back home from watching it at the cinema earlier tonight.

Very good movie. Everyone was pretty good in it, especially Matt Damon. I didn't really care about Zendaya as Athena, though.

Also, the cinema room was PACKED! I hadn't seen a packed cinema room since Return of the King when I watched it at the cinema in 2004. I had to attend a 21h30 session because the previous ones and the ones tomorrow were all sold out. I left the shopping mall way past midnight.

Anyway, while the movie was good, I doubt I'll want to rewatch it several years from now.

I rated it 4 out of 5 stars on letterboxd.