This is one of the most interesting conversations Christopher Nolan has participated in for a film release. If you haven’t watched it yet, set aside 17 minutes because it’s absolutely worth your time if your a fan of the filmmaker.
For years, Nolan was known for avoiding online interviews, preferring conversations with magazines and newspapers instead. That’s changed over the last couple of films, with Oppenheimer and now The Odyssey seeing the filmmaker much more active in promotional interviews.
The interview was conducted by Yiyang Zhuge, a Chinese political theorist, translator, Brandeis University lecturer, and PhD candidate at Boston College, for the Chinese release of The Odyssey.
Rather than sticking to the usual filmmaking questions, Zhuge steers the conversation into philosophy, literature, language, and history. It’s the kind of interview that actually challenges its guest, and Nolan clearly enjoys meeting those questions head-on.
What makes this conversation so refreshing is that Zhuge doesn’t simply ask Nolan to explain his latest movie. She pushes back on his ideas, asking thoughtful questions about language, whether he has become the “bard for a civilization at dusk,” and even the implications of Christianizing one of the foundational stories of Ancient Greece.
It’s an intellectually engaging back-and-forth that feels far removed from the typical Hollywood press tour. Nolan responds with the same careful, thoughtful approach that has defined much of his work, making for a discussion that’s as fascinating as it is insightful.
It’s rare to see a filmmaker and interviewer challenge each other in this way, and the result is one of the strongest movie interviews to come out of a major studio campaign in a long time.
Now that you’ve seen the movie, learn more about the choices writer/director Christopher Nolan made adapting The Odyssey for the big screen in this excellent interview.
The Odyssey follows Odysseus (Matt Damon), the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, on his perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he encounters mythical figures including the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe before his long-awaited reunion with his wife, Penelope.
You can watch the full 17-minute interview below. It’s one of those rare promotional conversations that’s every bit as compelling as the movie it’s promoting.
