Sir Christopher Nolan reflects on 'interesting gap' with Homer's Odyssey
Filmmaker Sir Christopher Nolan has compared his movie to Homer's Odyssey.
Sir Christopher Nolan doesn't think his adaptation of The Odyssey is "at odds" with Homer's ancient Greek poem.
The 56-year-old director has reflected on the differences between his adaptation and Homer's poem, which follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, during his homecoming journey after the Trojan War.
Speaking to political philosophy lecturer Zhong Shu, Nolan shared: "Homer is describing when Homer’s story was written down, or first received by readers and audiences. That’s a pretty interesting gap, and for me, I don’t think I’m completely at odds with the way Homer is telling the story."
Nolan recalled feeling fascinated by Homer's story as he embarked on his own creative process with the movie.
The filmmaker - who previously helmed the Batman trilogy - explained: "When you look at it from a sort of historical perspective and the reason is — and what I got interested in as I adapted it — is that Homer’s writing about an era before his, he’s writing about an era hundreds of years before. His audience viewed it as being more advanced than theirs.
"They had this idea of the greatness of this past civilisation. And so I became interested by that collapse, what they call the catastrophe, the Bronze Age collapse. What happens between the events of the Trojan War and Homer."
Nolan also explained how Oppenheimer, his 2023 epic biographical thriller film, influenced his approach to The Odyssey.
He said: "I think [those themes are] something that from a modern perspective is frightening and interesting and I think for me it partly comes out of having worked on Oppenheimer before this, which is very much a film about the end of the world, about the end of and collapse of civilization, ultimately. So I think yeah I definitely carried that sensibility into this adaptation of The Odyssey."
Meanwhile, Matt Damon recently admitted to being amazed by Nolan's skill and ambition.
The actor played Odysseus in The Odyssey, and he lavished praise on the award-winning director.
Matt - who stars in the film alongside Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron - told Collider: "I don't know how he did it. I don't know.
"I mean, the amount of vision that it took to build this world and how intentional it was."
Matt also hailed Nolan for making the movie in IMAX.
He said: "He didn't announce that as we set off. I mean, we knew that was the intention, but we didn't know if we'd be able to do it, and that is the final piece that just puts you there."
