Christopher Nolan Says ‘The Odyssey’ Is “Shorter” Than ‘Oppenheimer’

Despite using more than 2 million feet of film to bring Homer’s The Odyssey to the big screen, writer/director Christopher Nolan is keeping the cinematic experience under three hours.

The 2x Oscar winner recently revealed that his upcoming film, which films July 17 in Imax, has a “shorter” runtime than his 2023 epic Oppenheimer, which clocked in at 180 minutes.

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” he explained to the Associated Press. “But it is shorter.”

Nolan added, “There’s a massive amount of pressure. Anyone taking on The Odyssey is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility. What I learned from [making The Dark Knight trilogy] is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation. They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

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Last November, Nolan revealed he “shot over two million feet of film” during the 91-day shoot, much of which was actually at sea to capture the grand scale of Homer’s ancient Greek epic.

“It’s pretty primal! I’ve been out on it for the last four months,” he told Empire. “We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus’ ship out there on the real waves, in the real places. And yeah, it’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift. We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world.”

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An adaptation of one of the first stories in human history, The Odyssey follows Odysseus (Matt Damon) through the incredible trials and mythical encounters he faces on his decade-long journey home to wife Penelope after the Trojan War.

The Odyssey also stars Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez, Mia Goth and more.