Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is set to be “the epic of all epics”, according to one of the film’s stunt performers.
The director’s adaptation of Homer’s epic Greek poem has begun filming and is due to be released into cinemas in July 2026. It stars Matt Damon in the lead role as the heroic Ithacan king Odysseus on his 10-year journey home from the Trojan War.
Anticipation is high among film fans and in an interview on the Action For Everyone podcast, stunt performer James Newman has raised the excitement levels further still.
“They’re never going to make a movie like this again,” he said. “I think it’s going to be an epic of all epics. It’s going to be Nolan at his best. No holds barred.”
Matt Damon is Odysseus. A film by Christopher Nolan, #TheOdysseyMovie is in theaters July 17, 2026. pic.twitter.com/7a5YbfqVfG
— odysseymovie (@odysseymovie) February 17, 2025
Explaining what he believes sets Nolan apart from his peers, Newman added: “He definitely fights a battle that a lot of people aren’t fighting. The coordinator came to us with scout pictures of locations, and it’s just all over Europe because Odysseus’ journey is crazy, it’s like 10 years long.”
“They found locations and Nolan would go like, ‘OK, this cave, has anyone ever filmed here before?’ And the local guy is like, ‘No.’ [Nolan] is like, ‘OK, great, we’re going to film here.’ This untouched place. He wants to be the first person there to do it, he wants to feel like no one has ever touched ground here. And every location is a hike.”
As well as Damon, The Odyssey will star Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway in central roles, with Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Zendaya and Jon Bernthal also set to play supporting characters.
In January, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin and Samantha Morton were also added to the cast while more recent additions include Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez, Nick E Tarabay, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, Michael Vlamis and Iddo Goldberg. Shōgun star Cosmo Jarvis was also added to the cast as filming began in Morocco in March.
Behind the scenes, Nolan looks set to continue his 10-year working relationship with Oscar-nominated director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema and will be writing/ producing the film alongside longtime partner Emma Thomas. Ludwig Goransson is also rumoured to be scoring the project after creating the celebrated music for Tenet and Oppenheimer.
English (US) · 