A new video from The Odyssey reveals behind the scenes of a historic IMAX shoot

How the British director pushed the limits of technology to bring Homer’s poem to life.

“It looks like the filming of a film from 100 years ago… except that it’s in IMAX!“

Matt Damon perfectly sums up the completely crazy ambition of The Odyssey in this new behind-the-scenes video posted online by Universal. The studio reveals how Christopher Nolan and his team took on an unprecedented challenge: adapting Homer’s poem with the most advanced technology in today’s cinema. The film will become the first feature film in history shot entirely with IMAX 65mm film cameras.

For cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, there was no hesitation: “It was clearly the format this story needed. It was our first choice.“And with The OdysseyChristopher Nolan makes an old dream come true:

“It’s been my dream since I was 16 to be able to make a film entirely in IMAX!“

Until now, Christopher Nolan always alternated sequences shot with the imposing 65mm IMAX cameras and more traditional 65mm Panavision cameras. The Dark Knight featured approximately 28 minutes of IMAX footage, The Dark Knight Rises 72 minutes, while Dunkirk And Tenet were filmed almost 75% in this format. Even Oppenheimerwhich made extensive use of it, was not shot 100% in IMAX.

The main obstacle was known: the infernal noise of IMAX film cameras, incompatible with dialogues recorded directly. To get around this problem, the production knocked directly on IMAX’s door to develop a new generation of cameras. Lighter, much quieter, they are accompanied by a huge sound-absorbing box, a “blimp”, capable of almost completely muffling the din of the mechanism during filming.

The video then shows the teams transporting this extraordinary equipment in spectacular natural settings, on top of cliffs, on wild beaches or even on the deck of a boat in the open sea, in order to favor real landscapes over digital effects.

But, according to Matt Damon, all this technical excess never took precedence over emotion. Behind the technological feat, The Odyssey will remain above all a profoundly human adventure:

“Chris films with great scale, in an immense format. But he makes independent films…”

The film is on the cover of the latest issue (575) of Première, currently on newsstands.

The Odyssey will be Christopher Nolan’s 13th feature film. The filmmaker wrote the screenplay, adapted from Homer’s ancient poem, and produced it alongside Emma Thomas via their company Syncopy. Universal Pictures is responsible for distribution.

The film will also feature Zendaya in the role of Athena, goddess of wisdom; and Charlize Theron as Circe, goddess of magic. The impressive cast also includes Lupita Nyong’o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Will Yun Lee, Mia Goth, Jimmy Gonzales, Elliot Page and Jovan Adepo, among dozens of other performers bringing the characters from the epic poem to life.

The Odyssey will be released on IMAX® screens and will be released in theaters throughout France on July 15, 2026.