Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Oscar Campaign Opens With BTS Documentary

Christopher Nolan's $1.8 billion blockbuster "The Odyssey" launched its Oscar campaign Tuesday night with the premiere of a 75-minute behind-the-scenes documentary at the Spielberg Theater on the Universal Studios lot.

"I have absolutely mastered the art of talking a lot and revealing absolutely nothing," Nolan joked while introducing the film. "And so I'm told I need to get out of the way."

The full cut screened once; a shorter version arrives with the digital home release on Nov. 17. Universal has not said which portions will survive.

After the screening, Matt Damon, who plays Odysseus, moderated an hourlong conversation with 12 department heads, including producer Emma Thomas, composer Ludwig Göransson, production designer Ruth De Jong, editor Jennifer Lame, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick and casting director John Papsidera. The audience was packed with guild voters and influencers.

What does the campaign target?

Universal is campaigning the film — the highest-grossing of Nolan's career — across all categories, aiming to match or break the record 16 Oscar nominations "Sinners" earned this year. Robert Downey Jr. moderates an Imax 70mm screening Wednesday at the TCL Chinese Theatre; Guillermo del Toro follows Thursday at AMC Universal CityWalk; Steven Spielberg sits down with Nolan at the DGA Theater on Nov. 17.

Eight revelations

• No ADR. Damon looped no dialogue: "I did not loop a line for this movie." Sound mixer Willie Burton: "There's no ADR with Chris." Burton ran cables under deck floorboards and recorded every oar stroke; the mix stayed nearly organic, down to gongs forged by hand and real army screams.
• The Cyclops began as a desk lamp. Inspired by Goya's "Saturn Devouring His Son," VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson filmed Bill Irwin improvising in a dark office, digitally centering one eye. A crude stick-figure puppet stood on a Greek mountain within two months after Nolan found a real cave — "it actually worked much better," De Jong said.
• Rejected requests. Tom Holland quietly shortened his skirt to look taller; Nolan caught it in two seconds. Robert Pattinson phoned hair chief Gloria Casny requesting a long wig: "The answer was no."
• "I don't accept that." When the sea destroyed a boat in Scotland, marine coordinator Neil Andrea called the repair "literally impossible." Damon recalled Nolan's reply — and the vessel floated the next day.
• Customs drama. The Trojan Horse sat in crates at customs in Morocco while Nolan moved the shoot up two days; the tide then knocked it over after planting.
• Practical Troy. A 2.5-acre city rose between late December and early February, lit by hundreds of fire-calibrated LED "pyrahedrons" designed by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.
• 35 bronze gongs. Göransson spent 10 days during the Los Angeles fires learning to write for them, recorded iso-polyphonic folk singing in southern Albania, and built the end-credits song "When I'm Home" with James Blake around Travis Scott's original vocal.
• Scale. Nearly 7,000 extras passed through fittings in Morocco; more than 80 hair and makeup artists erased tattoos and earring holes. Papsidera had roughly 62 days to cast about 60 actors.

Damon, 54, filmed doing pullups, offered the campaign's likely rallying cry: "My whole life was kind of leading up to this movie, and I don't know how long we're going to get to make movies this way." Thomas, praising the still Oscar-less actor, said she "cannot believe we did it."

What the documentary changes is positioning: Universal is selling artisan craft — sound, sets, costumes, score — as the story, weeks before nomination voting begins.