- Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" will be the first film shot entirely using IMAX film.
- Nolan honors late mentor David Keighley with the new IMAX Keighley camera.
- The film, rated R, opens July 17 emphasizing intense, cinematic horror elements.
SALT LAKE CITY — Prominent British-American film director, producer and screenwriter Christopher Nolan sat down with KSL ahead of the upcoming release of his new film adaptation of Homer's legendary epic, "The Odyssey."
Nolan has said he expected the film to be difficult to make because it is the first feature shot entirely on IMAX film. Nolan discussed his relationship with IMAX's first chief quality officer, the late David Keighley, who mentored him in using the IMAX cameras.
"The Odyssey" is the first film shot using the new IMAX Keighley camera, named for the man.
"I was very moved when the head of IMAX, Rich Gelfond, told me that he was naming the camera that we'd been using for months after David. David was my Imax mentor for 20 years — just an incredible craftsman. He was the longest-serving IMAX employee; he'd been right in at the beginning — about 1969-1970, something like that," Nolan told KSL.
He called Keighley "the person that I first had to convince that we could take their cameras and start making Hollywood films with them. In the past, this incredible format had really just been used for documentaries."
Nolan said he got Keighley "on board with it" for the film "The Dark Knight."
"So the introduction of the Joker, the bank heist, that was the first stuff that was shot, as a dramatic sequence in a dramatic feature using the IMAX format. And, it's just been a journey from that on that he's been such an important part of," Nolan recalled.
He said Keighley died after finishing his work on "The Dark Knight."
When asked about horror elements in "The Odyssey" film and what inspired them, Nolan pointed to Homer's original text.
"I mean, there's a lot of horror in the pipeline — more actually than we have in the film. It gets pretty bloodthirsty at times. I think for me, horror is one area where it really is an inherently cinematic genre, and so you're really looking to try and involve the audience in an almost physical way," he said.
"You're trying to have them really on the edge of their seat in the cinema. And so, using the IMAX screen, using everything we had at our disposal to try and really give people a sense of tension of 'What would it really be like, for example, to go into the cave of the Cyclops, or to encounter Scylla out in the open seas? Or, Sersi, you know, with her powers to transform people?' That kind of thing," he continued.
The director emphasized the goal of making sure the movie felt like "something that might have happened."
"And we always felt like if that were the case, there would be an intensity to that. Hopefully, to be very entertaining, but definitely intense," he said.
When asked if IMAX has changed the way audiences watch movies as much as it has changed filmmaking, Nolan noted the importance of filmmakers competing with at-home movie viewing.
"It's really important that in the theatrical space, we compete and we give audiences a reason to get out of the house, whether that's an IMAX film or shooting on IMAX film, which then translates to all the other ways that you could see the film," he said.
IMAX has "really driven theater owners to improve theatrical presentation generally. And so there are a lot of really cool ways to go to the movies and have an incredible experience with great sound and an incredible picture," the director noted.
"The Odyssey" is rated R and will open in theaters on July 17.
