Christopher Nolan has pushed The Odyssey to 'the most extreme' limits
The Odyssey filmmaker Christopher Nolan has opened up on his process as a director.
Christopher Nolan has described The Odyssey as the "most extreme version" of the story he could have told.
The 55-year-old filmmaker explained that he always wants to be directing "from inside" the scene to help audiences become enveloped in what they're watching, and he didn't want to hold anything back on the latest film.
Appearing on CBS' 60 Minutes, he said: "I always try to have a point of view on the story that’s from inside the film.
"So I’m not looking at the characters from 30,000 feet; I’m trying to be in the race, in the maze with them. Because I want to try and give the audience a sense of what a place would smell like, what it would feel like.
"But you’re also trying to make the most involving, the most extreme version of a story possible."
He added that in the case of The Odyssey, he and his crew "pushed pretty hard on this one and maybe found some limits".
Nolan noted he feels a "real responsibility" to make sure each of his films "give the audience the fullest flavour, the fullest set of images and events that we can give them for a given story".
Nolan penned the script for his upcoming star studded epic, adapting Homer's poem which scholars believe was written between 725 and 675 BCE.
Reflecting on his process, he explained: “When I’m writing, I’m visualizing the film as an audience member, as somebody experiencing the story.
“Then, when I direct the story, I’m trying to take the audience there.
"So, in the case of The Odyssey, I’m trying to put the audience into that horse. I’m trying to put them on the deck of Odysseus’s ship.”
The picture tells the story of Odysseus (Damon), the Greek king of Ithaca, and his long and perilous journey home to reunite with his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) following the Trojan War.
The star studded cast also includes the likes of Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya and Charlize Theron.
Nolan recently explained that he had an "amazing time" shooting the movie during a hectic production process across Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland and Scotland.
Speaking at a presentation for The Odyssey at CinemaCon last month, the director quipped: "This has been a nightmare to film – but in all the right ways."
