Earlier this year, the Fates rapidly began to weave the threads that would bring us yet another project from the mind of Oscar-winning filmmaker and director, Christopher Nolan, with the retelling of Homer‘s tale of the mighty Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Nolan’s upcoming mythic action epic, The Odyssey, has since greatly expanded its cast with a plethora of stars, including John Wick‘s John Leguizamo joining the eagerly anticipated film. It is as large an undertaking as any Nolan has ever ventured into in his illustrious career. With huge expectations, some of Hollywood’s brightest stars on the call sheet, and most definitely an enormous budget. Leguizamo reveals that Nolan still manages to make the entire production feel like an independent film.
“Dude, you know the thing is, okay, he’s got a crazy budget,” Leguizamo said in a recent interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “It’s not small, but he runs [it] like an indie film because he’s not doing it by committee, he’s not doing it by what the studio. He’s like an indie filmmaker but with crazy money.” Leguizamo’s observations on Nolan’s handling of The Odyssey‘s production can only be viewed as a plus to the filmmaker’s credibility as an original thinker. Homer’s tale has been retold many times, and Nolan is sure to deliver the most interesting versions while making the most of the budget made available to him.
Nolan’s filmography includes big, blockbuster-type films, and even smaller-scale projects in equal measure. With credits which include films like Oppenheimer and Interstellar, on the big-budget side of things, and Aftersun and Past Lives on the independent side, the filmmaker is well-versed in making a good movie no matter the budget. Leguizamo’s recent comments also point to a filmmaker who actors love to work with. Speaking to Collider in a previous interview, Cillian Murphy, who led Nolan’s biopic, Oppenheimer, commended the director’s collaboration with actors, saying, “He is brilliant with actors, understands actors, loves actors, really believes in actors and what they can bring to the story and to the character. So an awful lot of the time we’ll just find it. We’ll be shooting, but we’ll be finding the scene, and he’ll let us experiment and explore stuff.”
Nolan and Universal Set Off to Retell an Epic Mythical Tale
The Odyssey is a voyage Universal seems bent on supporting with all their might, with the studio describing the film as a “mythic action epic shot across the world using brand-new IMAX film technology”. The original rendering of The Odyssey follows the legendary Greek hero of the Trojan War, King Odysseus of Ithaca, and his perilous, ten-year-long journey and voyage back home from Troy. After masterminding the gift which brought down the city of Troy, Odysseus’ voyage home is one filled with encounters with gods, monsters including Poseidon’s offspring, a cyclops, and much mental and physical stress.
Besides Leguizamo, The Odyssey has also cast a wide range of incredible stars, including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Josh Stewart, Elliot Page, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, and Jesse Garcia. Others include Will Yun Lee, Rafi Gavron, Shiloh Fernandez, Mia Goth, Corey Hawkins, Nick E. Tarabay, Jimmy Gonzales, Maurice Compte, Michael Vlamis, Iddo Goldberg, and Cosmo Jarvis. It is effectively a dizzying pantheon of Hollywood stars.
Principal photography of The Odyssey has already begun, with the film expected to open in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates on The Odyssey.
Source: MSNBC’s Morning Joe
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