First look reveals Christopher Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ practical effects

Empire Magazine released the first official images from Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey on Wednesday, showcasing Matt Damon in full armor as the legendary Greek king Odysseus alongside a massive practical Trojan horse prop. The exclusive reveal comes ahead of the magazine's November 20 issue, marking the first substantial look at Nolan's $250 million mythological epic.cosmicbook+6

The images depict Damon's weathered Odysseus leading his men through forests and beaches beside Greek warships, while one striking shot features warriors dragging the towering Trojan horse ashore. Damon told Empire the production was "without hyperbole, the best experience of my career," describing the film as "exactly what you want of a summer movie" that "should feel mythic".nerdist+3

Epic Scale Captured on Two Million Feet of Film

Nolan revealed to Empire that production shot over two million feet of IMAX film—equivalent to approximately 139 hours of footage—during a 91-day shoot across multiple continents. The production marks Nolan's first film shot entirely with IMAX cameras, utilizing both newly developed lighter cameras and existing technology.worldofreel+2

"As a filmmaker, you're looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven't been done before," Nolan said. "What I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with—Ray Harryhausen movies and other things—I'd never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do".as+3

The director emphasized the production's commitment to practical filmmaking, with extensive ocean sequences filmed on location. "We got the cast who play the crew of Odysseus' ship out there on the real waves, in the real places," Nolan explained. "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".comicbookmovie+3

Damon praised Nolan's approach to the mythological elements, stating the director "doesn't hide the ball". "If it says you're running for your life from a Cyclops, you're going to run for your life," the actor said. When Damon asked how Nolan would film scenes featuring the Trojan horse, the director replied: "I don't know. We'll just get in there and figure it out".darkhorizons

Nolan described the project as decades in the making, originating from when he was originally offered to direct Troy in 2004 but chose to make Batman Begins instead. The adaptation of Homer's foundational Greek epic follows Odysseus on his perilous decade-long journey home after the Trojan War, featuring encounters with the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe.wikipedia+4

The Odyssey stars Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Elliot Page, and Mia Goth. Universal Pictures will release the film in theaters and IMAX on July 17, 2026.sffgazette+5