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'The Odyssey': Christopher Nolan talked to us about making a 2,800-year-old story feel new
Director Christopher Nolan with Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on the set of "The Odyssey."
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Courtesy Universal Studios
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Christopher Nolan talked with LAist about how he adapted The Odyssey, which brings a story that's thousands of year old to a modern audience.
The topic:
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is turning out to be the event of the summer, with screenings selling out at theaters a year in advance. Nolan talked with LAist host Larry Mantle about how he adapted the Greek epic for a modern audience. Here's what he said.
On what makes a successful adaptation: “If somebody watching the film who read the poem in high school or something, who doesn’t know it that well but knows it pretty well — if that person feels that my additions or my allusions actually were from the poem, then I think I've succeeded.”
The dialogue: “I’m not having the actors speak with mid-Atlantic or some British accents the way Hollywood in the 50s or 60s often did… We want it to be more accessible than that.”
The sound and score: “[Ludwig Göransson] is trying to create a soundscape that is as much a part of the sense of place as the sound effects. So in a way we’re trying to blur the boundaries completely between music and sound effects.”
New technology: “This blimping system — it’s essentially a high-tech box you put the [70mm IMAX] camera in and it silences it. And so for the first time ever, we could do the entire film that way.”
Does the format matter? “They’re all drawn from this massive negative, so they can be as sharp and clear as possible. We’re able to fill the screen with the brightest and clearest image no matter what format you see it in."
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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