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Christopher Nolan is back. Two years after the Oscar-winning success of Oppenheimer<\/em><\/a>, the filmmaker has turned to one of the oldest stories ever told, bringing Homer\u2019s The Odyssey<\/em><\/a> to the big screen with an ensemble that includes Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway<\/a>, Tom Holland<\/a>, Zendaya<\/a>, Charlize Theron<\/a>, Lupita Nyong\u2019o<\/a>, Robert Pattinson<\/a>, and more.<\/p>\n The epic follows Odysseus (Damon), the king of Ithaca, on his arduous journey home after the Trojan War, where gods, monsters, and impossible trials stand between him and his family. Back in Ithaca, his wife, Penelope (Hathaway), and son, Telemachus (Holland), struggle to protect their kingdom as they await his return.<\/p>\n Nolan has described the adaptation as one of the most ambitious undertakings of his career. In a GQ <\/em>interview<\/a>, he explained that revisiting Homer\u2019s poem required a new approach for modern audiences. \u201cWhat I realized is, Oh, okay, to make a screenplay for this, it\u2019s all about setting those things up, being true to those because the payoffs are incredible. But it\u2019s now my responsibility to, within the form of the structure of the poem, try and set these things in motion so that the audience, an audience who\u2019s not as familiar with the poem and the mythology of the poem as Homer\u2019s audience, would be ready for these things. And that cracked it open for me.\u201d<\/p>\n The production itself was just as ambitious. Filmed across six countries over 91 days, The Odyssey<\/em> became the first feature shot entirely on 70mm IMAX film. Speaking to GQ<\/em>, Damon said, \u201cEvery single location on this movie would\u2019ve been the hardest location on any other movie I\u2019ve ever done. And they just went back-to-back.\u201d<\/p>\n The women of The Odyssey<\/em> also reflected on Nolan\u2019s vision in their ELLE Summer 2026 cover stories<\/a>. Hathaway, who reunites with the director for a third time, said<\/a>, \u201cWe think about Penelope as a model of patience. But I was interested in the raw edge of her. I was interested in the fury, the emotion, and the passion that she would have had to ride for him for those 20 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Zendaya, who plays the goddess Athena, said her character felt like a natural fit. \u201cIn many ways, it feels very fitting that that would be the pairing for me,\u201d she told ELLE<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Theron, who portrays the sea nymph Calypso, said<\/a> she appreciated the opportunity to reinvent a familiar mythological figure. \u201cI was given a chance to do something that I haven\u2019t had a ton of opportunity to do, because she\u2019s a little bit of everything. That\u2019s what\u2019s so beautiful about her.\u201d<\/p>\n The movie is playing in theaters as of July 17, and is available in multiple premium formats, according to Universal Pictures<\/a>:<\/p>\nHow can I watch The Odyssey<\/em>?<\/h2>\n
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