Christopher Nolan was to direct Troy, with Brad Pitt, 20 years before The Odyssey

“It’s been in the back of my mind for a very long time…”

In the new issue ofEmpirewhich reveals the first images of The OdysseyChristopher Nolan confirms that he almost directed Troythe epic film by Wolfgang Petersen released in 2004, loosely inspired by theIliad by Homer from a screenplay by David Benioff.

The German filmmaker picked up the project when his film project Batman v Superman fell into the water. And this is how Nolan, who was coming out of Memento And Insomniafound himself doing Batman Beginswhich would give birth to one of the most significant trilogies in the history of cinema.

Nolan says (via World of Reel):

“I was originally hired by Warner Bros. to achieve Troy. Wolfgang had been developing it, and so when the studio decided to cancel his superhero film, he wanted to bring it back.”

Last June, during a podcast with Happy Sad Confused for the 20th anniversary of Batman Beginsscreenwriter David Goyer had already mentioned this episode, even suggesting that Batman had been “a consolation prize for Chris“.

By being excluded from TroyNolan saved himself a lot of trouble. The film is known for its chaotic production. Due to the war in Iraq, filming was relocated from Morocco to Mexico, where it was hit by a hurricane. He was also disturbed by the injury of Brad Pitt, who played the demigod Achilles, to the… Achilles tendon.

Troy was then destroyed by critics, but still brought in nearly 500 million dollars with its five-star cast (Diane Kruger as Helen, Sean Bean as Ulysses, Eric Bana as Hector, Orlando Bloom as Paris, Brian Cox as Agamemnon…). It’s still a hell of a piece of cinema, especially if you look at the director’s cut released in 2007.

Troy: a Homeric shoot for a disproportionate peplum

The idea of ​​bringing Homer’s epic poem to the screen has never ceased to haunt Nolan ever since:

“Ultimately, it was a world I really wanted to explore. So it’s been in the back of my mind for a very long time. Certain images, in particular. How I wanted to portray the Trojan horse, things like that.”

And we already know that it will differ significantly from Petersen’s vision on a central point. The Greek Gods were absent from Troy. In The Odysseywhich will be released in cinemas in July 2026, they will be very present, notably with Zendaya in the role of Athena.