The Odyssey Trailer Reveals A Change To The Classic Story
A new glimpse at the epic adventure teases all of Odysseus’ trials.
Christopher Nolan changed what a blockbuster could be with Oppenheimer. Yes, it opened alongside Barbie as half of Barbenheimer, but just on its own it made a new case for maximalist, large-scale, epic filmmaking. It also sparked a new interest in large-format 70mm film, with screenings at the handful of theaters that offered them selling out in moments.
Now, Nolan is back, and doubling down on the grandness by adapting one of the most epic stories ever told: The Odyssey, Homer’s ancient work detailing Odysseus’ decade long journey home after his Trojan horse plan helped the Athenians take Troy. With an all-star cast and a historic fully-IMAX shot production, The Odyssey is set to raise the bar even more. In the new trailer released during The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, we got an even better look at what to expect on screens this summer. Check out the trailer below:
“Tell me what you remember,” Charlize Theron as Calypso says to Matt Damon’s Odysseus. We then see the span of his 20-year journey since he left his home: battling at Troy, trying to navigate the wine-dark sea, and scheming to escape the many tight spots he finds himself in. That’s all classic The Odyssey, but where this trailer differs is in how much the action cuts back to Ithaca, where Odysseus’ wife Penelope and son Telemachus dutifully wait for him for decades, maintaining hope that he’ll return. In most versions of The Odyssey, the Ithaca part of the story only plays a major part towards the end of the epic, but this trailer seems to tease that it will have as much import (and perhaps equal screentime) as Odysseus’ journey.
This trailer comes during the final weeks of The Late Show, which will end later this month. The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope; Tom Holland as his son Telemachus; Robert Pattinson as Penelope’s suitor Antinous; Zendaya as Athena, goddess of wisdom; Charlize Theron as Calypso, the sea witch who tries to keep Odysseus on her island; Jon Bernthal as Spartan king Menelaus; and Benny Safdie as Menelaus’ brother Agamemnon.
That’s just the cast whose roles have been announced. There’s a laundry list of other actors who have been cast in The Odyssey, ranging from The Umbrella Academy’s Elliot Page, rapper Travis Scott, former NHL player Sean Avery, and Sesame Street’s very own Mr. Noodle Bill Irwin.
The Odyssey is the latest of Christopher Nolan’s epic blockbusters.
The Odyssey has already stirred controversy as Christopher Nolan has cited Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation as a major influence, a more modern approach that took the original ancient Greek meter and reflected it in a more common iambic pentameter. It also sparked discourse with its unprecedented release strategy, with dozens of 70mm film screenings selling out a full year before release. New 70mm film screens are even being constructed in anticipation of this movie, the latest in a long line of movies that have priortized large-format filmmaking including Sinners, The Brutalist, and Frankenstein.
So no matter what The Odyssey looks like in the end, it’s already changing the way we watch movies. Just as The Odyssey remains a timeless story millennia later, this movie may become its ultimate adaptation.
