Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan revealed to Empire magazine that more than 20 years ago Warner Bros. initially hired him to direct the swords-and-sandals epic Troy—long before Nolan would take on his own adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey.
Nolan said that the studio later handed the project back to director Wolfgang Petersen, and in its place offered Nolan the origin story film Batman Begins as a “consolation prize.” “At the end of the day, it was a world that I was very interested to explore,” he told Empire. “How I wanted to handle the Trojan horse, things like that.”
In 2004, Petersen’s Troy, starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom, hit cinemas to mixed reviews but nearly $500 million at the box office. Meanwhile Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005) launched his acclaimed trilogy and helped redefine the modern superhero film.
With Nolan’s upcoming film—The Odyssey—going into production, it’s clear that those earlier seeds left in his mind have finally sprouted. The story of Troy feeds directly into the events of Odysseus’ journey, and Nolan said his interest in myth and epic storytelling had “been at the back of my mind for a very long time.”
Written and directed by Nolan, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Zendaya and other major actors in the ensemble. It is scheduled for release on July 17, 2026.
“As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before,” Nolan also told Empire magazine about why he chose to turn Homer’s “Odyssey” into a movie. “And 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.”
“The Odyssey” is set for release on July 17, 2026, from Universal Pictures.
Courtesy: Variety
