Nolan’s The Odyssey: IMAX Ambitions and Ingenious Fixes

Christopher Nolan has a reputation for tackling big projects, but his latest, The Odyssey, might just be his boldest yet. This epic is the first major Hollywood production to be filmed exclusively with IMAX cameras, a move that brought a whole set of technical headaches. Matt Damon, who takes on the role of Odysseus, recently shared his amazement at how Nolan and his team managed to pull off what many thought was impossible, especially when it came to dealing with the infamous 'blender' issue that plagues IMAX shoots.

The production of The Odyssey marked a significant step forward for IMAX technology. Nolan and his crew had to find ways around the usual hurdles of shooting everything digitally. On a recent episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce, Damon gave a peek behind the curtain at the technical wizardry involved. He pointed out that IMAX cameras are incredibly noisy, making it tough to capture clean dialogue in close-ups. But the team came up with a creative fix:

"IMAX cameras are really loud. It sounds like a blender, like a Cuisinart in your face when the camera's close to you. So, there's never been these dialogue [scenes in IMAX]. We couldn't have this conversation with a normal IMAX camera because you wouldn't be able to hear us. They built this giant thing around the IMAX for those dialogue scenes and a system of mirrors, so your eye line would be close to the camera, and you could talk to the other actor. The amount of work that went into figuring out how to do [that], because he wanted to do 100 percent IMAX and he did it!"

Cracking the IMAX Code

Rich Gelfond, the boss at IMAX, remembered how Nolan came to him about a year before filming kicked off. Nolan had a big ask: he wanted to shoot the entire film with IMAX cameras. Gelfond was sceptical at first, pointing out the hassle of reloading film, the slow turnaround for dailies, and the nightmare of recording sound. But Nolan wasn’t put off. He told Gelfond,

"If you can figure out how to solve these problems, we will make [Odyssey] 100 percent in IMAX. And that's what we're doing."

True to his word, Nolan and his crew made it happen.

Nolan’s known for pushing the envelope. He’s always looking for new ways to tell stories, whether it’s through unusual structures, sticking with practical effects instead of CGI, or keeping old-school filmmaking alive. After the dogfights in Dunkirk, the 747 crash in Tenet, and the nuclear blast in Oppenheimer, you’d think he’d be ready to take it easy. But with The Odyssey, he’s gone even further.

Reimagining a Classic

The Odyssey is a fresh take on Homer’s legendary poem, following Odysseus as he tries to make his way home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he faces all sorts of challenges, including a vengeful Poseidon, who’s not too happy about Odysseus blinding his son, the cyclops Polyphemus. This new version, packed with a star-studded cast, wrapped up filming last August and is set to hit cinemas on 17 July. IMAX tickets are already up for grabs, and punters are keen to see how Nolan’s vision plays out on the big screen.