Oppenheimer was not only the biggest movie of 2023 but also the biggest movie for its maker, Christopher Nolan.
Nolan, along with the huge cast of Oppenheimer probably didn’t anticipate the cultural impact the movie would have on viewers. But one thing is for sure: he definitely knows how to keep an ensemble as big as Oppenheimer happy within their roles.
Christopher Nolan’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ will begin filming next month.
Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal and Charlize Theron. pic.twitter.com/Z0wgQZBMHf
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 22, 2025
That’s why he is collecting even more gems of Hollywood for his movie, Odyssey. Nolan already has actors like Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, and Robert Pattinson roped in, and now he is bringing more people. Christopher Nolan is famous for keeping his choice of actors on roster such as Matt Damon. For his new movie, he is bringing back his old cast from his previous movies: Elliot Page from Inception, Himesh Patel from Tenet, and Bill Irwin, who voiced TARS in Interstellar, to the cast that already has Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron and John Leguizamo.
Elliot Page joins Christopher Nolan’s ‘THE ODYSSEY’ pic.twitter.com/H8LYPOSC9K
— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 31, 2025
Where any other director would probably avoid working with a cast this big and diverse, Christopher Nolan thrives on such challenges. No wonder he could bring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman together on screen without one stealing the spotlight from another.
With this cast, Odyssey has already left Oppenheimer miles behind when it comes to talent. No one can discount the sheer volume of talent of Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Florence Pugh, but one can not deny that the scale is a bit tilted towards Odyssey with Tom, Zendaya, Hathway, and Lupita in the mix.
With Odyssey, Nolan is continuing with his latest track of adapting the screenplay from a previous body of work. Oppenheimer was based on Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 biography of Scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, American Prometheus. The movie takes place over the period from the inception of the idea of the atomic bomb to the security hearings of Oppenheimer that would eventually sully the name of the renowned scientist. With its nonlinear story telling and use of black and white scenes, Christopher Nolan could pull off the magnanimous project.
This movie was large in production, storytelling, and set building, but like every project, it had some flaws that critics couldn’t stop projecting, like a lack of storytelling on the Japanese side after the bombing. Yet, the movie went on to win big awards all through the season thereby cementing him as one of the biggest filmmakers.
“Oppen the heimer”
– Christopher Nolan pic.twitter.com/grQxoTsoQP— Suraj (@theSunAstro) March 11, 2024
Christopher Nolan again had an opportunity to make a movie that could bind critics and audiences alike to their chairs. Movies like prestige or interstellar. Stories that are so much more than just stories of one person but of everyone around them of humanity and its errors.
Odyssey can give Nolan the chance to redeem himself from Tenet and criticism of Oppenheimer if he can pull it off with the large cast and could turn these actors into characters interwoven in each other’s lives. It is a weave done so beautifully that one might forget the actors and see people on screen.
