Nolan screened classic films for cast before shooting The Odyssey

Director Christopher Nolan organized private screenings of three classic films for the cast and crew of his upcoming adaptation of Homer's Odyssey before filming began. He said the selections were chosen for their visual and atmospheric qualities rather than direct narrative parallels. The films included Andrei Tarkovsky’s "Andrei Rublev" (1966), Akira Kurosawa’s "Ran" (1985) and Martin Scorsese’s "The Last Temptation of Christ" (1988). Nolan noted that "Ran" offered notable examples of landscape and wind that informed the production’s design, and described "The Last Temptation of Christ" as a useful entry point to historical storytelling.

Nolan also linked the scale of The Odyssey to the unexpected commercial success of his 2023 film Oppenheimer, saying the latter created an opportunity to pursue a larger project. He explained that the new film will be the first feature shot entirely on IMAX film cameras, a development made possible through collaboration with film-presentation specialist David Keighley to create lighter, quieter equipment suitable for dialogue-heavy scenes. Nolan recalled that while earlier IMAX use on "The Dark Knight" allowed for action sequences, the cameras were too noisy for dialogue, prompting him to secure the technology for The Odyssey.