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First look: Nolan brings Homer to the big screen
New official images from Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey have arrived, offering a first glimpse of the director's take on Homer's ancient epic. Released by Entertainment Weekly, the photos feature an impressive ensemble — including Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Himesh Patel, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Holland — and even capture Nolan on set alongside longtime collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema. The visuals hint at a cinematic scope that blends practical spectacle with intimate character moments, a balance Nolan has favored in past films.
Star-studded cast and creative team
The Odyssey boasts a remarkable cast: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, John Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Cory Hawkins, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Will Yun Lee, Josh Stewart, Michael Wlamis, Eve Goldberg, Jesse Garcia, and Cosmo Jarvis, among others. Nolan writes and directs the project, adapting Homeric verse into a feature film that aims to capture both the mythic adventure and the psychological journey of Odysseus.
What makes this pairing especially promising is Hoyte van Hoytema on cinematography. His IMAX-photography experience with Nolan on films like Interstellar and Tenet suggests The Odyssey will be engineered for immersive, large-format viewing with an emphasis on texture and light.
What to expect from the story and style
Homer's Odyssey follows Odysseus after the fall of Troy, charting his decade-long voyage home as he and his crew confront mythic monsters, siren songs, and sorcery. Nolan is likely to distill those set-piece moments into scenes that play to his strengths: intricate staging, moral ambiguity, and temporal layering. Fans can reasonably expect practical effects, grand sea sequences, and a focus on character-driven stakes rather than CGI-heavy spectacle alone.
Context and comparisons
Comparisons to films like Troy and modern myth retellings are inevitable, but Nolan's sensibility aligns more closely with his previous explorations of scale and human drama in Interstellar and Oppenheimer. The current trend of adapting classical myths into big-budget cinema gives The Odyssey a timely place in the market, and Nolan's auteur stamp could make it a standout.
Trivia and behind-the-scenes notes: the Entertainment Weekly shots reportedly show several practical set builds, and Nolan has a known preference for shooting on film and using real locations, hinting that The Odyssey will favor tangible production design.
The Odyssey is scheduled for release on July 17, 2026. Whether Nolan will reframe Homer with a psychological lens or aim for a faithful saga, audiences are already buzzing — and these images only raise expectations.
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