Exclusive | Christopher Nolan Talks about Filming 'The Odyssey' With IMAX and Theatrical Films As A ‘Misunderstood Medium'

Whether it be his mega-hit films like Interstellar, Oppenheimer, and now The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's film's have not only been identified by stellar storytelling, but also by the scale they were created on.

In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter India in Mumbai, Nolan explains how he optimised the scale in The Odyssey using IMAX, his three-dimensional approach behind the film, and the timelessness of theatrical films in an age of streaming. 

One of the defining points of Nolan’s upcoming epic, The Odyssey, is that it has been shot using the latest IMAX technology and is the first-ever film to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras.

To Nolan, shooting with an IMAX doesn’t simply mean introducing new technology to make the next big film, he views that as a mode of filmmaking which adds a completely new dimension, and perhaps as the element that has allowed him to bring The Odyssey to life.

When reminded of a previous interview where he mentioned that using IMAX has pushed him to see composition situationally, Nolan answers, “I think, particularly in an era of film where you can have a video monitor that shows you what the camera is seeing, the danger is that you look at things in two-dimensional terms. But film is not two-dimensional; it's three-dimensional.”

Nolan understands the camera not only as a piece of technology on set, but as an object with an identity of itself that holds the set together. “The relationship of the camera to the actors, the camera to the landscape, the physical relationship, where that camera is... it means everything."

"When you shoot on IMAX, you have to think a lot about where you put your camera, because it's so big, it's difficult to move. And you don't have zoom lenses,” says Nolan, explaining that though it is difficult to work with a camera of that size, it prompts you to shoot with both attention and intention.

“You have to physically move the camera closer. So there's a lot of thought and attention paid, not to the frame, but to the physical relationship of where the camera is to the action. That's a type of filmmaking that I very much enjoy,” he adds. 

The filmmaker's desire to film with the IMAX camera dates back to when he was 16, much before his journey as a filmmaker even began.

"I first decided that I wanted to use the format, if I possibly could, when I was about 16 years old, which is a lot more than 20 years ago, sadly," he says.

He thinks back to the time he went to watch a documentary at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, on Omnimax, describing it as "so involving and so immersive" that it pushed him to become a director.

"I thought, why isn't Hollywood using this? Why aren't dramatic features, horror movies, action films using this format? Because it's so beautiful and so immersive," he says, explaining that the first time he worked with the camera was on his 2006 film, The Prestige.

"That was the first time I was able to go to IMAX and say, lend us one of your cameras, let's just try, let's see we could could make a Hollywood film on this format."

The director also reveals shooting all the major action sequences in The Dark Knight using an IMAX camera. "We did that more and more over the years on all the different films, but the thing that we could never do is figure (how to shoot the scenes with) dialogue, because the cameras were incredibly noisy," he adds.

"Leading up to The Odyssey, I went to IMAX, and I said, 'Look, if ever there were a film where you wanted to shoot the entire thing in IMAX, it's this.'"

"Their engineering team was able to build a 'blimping' system. It's essentially a high-tech box that you put the camera in, and it silences the camera so that you can, for the first time ever, shoot the dramatic scenes," he adds.

Nolan also spoke about his equation with Hoyte van Hoytema, the Director of Photography in The Odyssey.

"What Hoyt and I are able to do together, is expressive in a different way. It's not at all dependent on the box of the image in a two-dimensional sense,” he says, explaining that using the IMAX is much more about bringing the audience closer to the intentions of the characters, the relationships between them, and their relationship with their environment. 

According to the filmmaker, creating The Odyssey wouldn’t have been possible if it was shot on a green screen; giving it a three-dimensional approach was imperative.

"We're on a real boat in the real sea. Then you have the wonderful ability to position your camera exactly where you need it to be in space to bring the audience into relationship with the story.” 

As the conversation moved to the viability of theatrical films in a landscape that has become more streaming heavy, Nolan explains, “The thing with cinema that's often misunderstood is that it's not a technology; it's a medium.”

He describes theatrical films as a medium that offers the point of view of the camera and a subjective experience that feels like immersing yourself in a novel.

When it comes to theatrical films, "you can put the audience into the camera, into the head of a character. They share that in a cinema with the rest of the audience in a very empathetic and communal way, as if they're watching a play, something in the theatre, a musical,” he explains. 

“And it's the combination of those two things that's so powerful and so unique to cinema. There's no other medium that lets you do both things at once. That's why it's a powerful way to receive a story and why it's always going to be of value to audiences.”