{"id":7190,"date":"2026-08-03T12:49:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?p=7190"},"modified":"2026-08-03T12:49:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T11:49:49","slug":"christopher-nolan-reveals-how-the-odyssey-was-filmed-on-imax-before-it-nearly-got-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2026\/08\/03\/christopher-nolan-reveals-how-the-odyssey-was-filmed-on-imax-before-it-nearly-got-destroyed\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Nolan reveals how The Odyssey was filmed on IMAX before it nearly got destroyed"},"content":{"rendered":"

We already know how massive Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is, but he recently revealed just how much work went into filming the epic and how it almost got destroyed.<\/p>\n

The director has spent years pushing IMAX technology further than anyone else, and The Odyssey became the first feature film ever shot entirely using IMAX cameras<\/a>. But getting there wasn’t actually easy. Nolan has now explained how new technology had to be invented just to make the film possible, and how, at one point, the footage almost ended up being destroyed.<\/p>\n

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Nolan pulled back the curtain on exactly how he made one of the biggest films of his career. He explained that filming every single scene on IMAX<\/a> had been a dream of his ever since he first saw the format as a teenager.<\/p>\n

“I first encountered IMAX when I was a kid. I was about 16, and I went to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, saw a documentary shot on IMAX,” he said. “And right then, I was like… if you could ever do a feature film that way, this would be the format to do it on.”<\/p>\n

He actually started experimenting with the cameras years ago on The Dark Knight. He used them for moments like the Joker’s bank heist and the famous truck flip. But the cameras were simply too loud to record dialogue.<\/p>\n

They had to invent brand new technology for The Odyssey<\/h2>\n
\"How
Credit: YouTube\/The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rather than accepting the limitation, Nolan said he went straight to IMAX and challenged them to fix it.<\/p>\n

“On this film, I finally called IMAX. I’m like, ‘Look, if ever there was a story that you were going to try and do every frame in IMAX, it would be The Odyssey. So can you find some way to help us, you know, record the dialogue?'”<\/p>\n

The solution was something called a “blimping system”, which is basically a huge soundproof housing that fits around the camera.<\/p>\n

But solving one problem created another. The camera became so massive inside the housing that actors couldn’t actually see each other during close-up scenes.<\/p>\n

Nolan explained exactly how they worked around it. He said, “My director of photography, Hoyte van Hoytema, he’s a great artist, but he’s also kind of an engineer. I said, ‘Well, what if we use two mirrors and do some kind of periscope thing?’ He and his guys found a way to do it.”<\/p>\n

He added, “So the actors can make real eye contact and actually perform together.”<\/p>\n

And shooting entirely on IMAX also meant getting through an absolutely enormous amount of film stock. When Fallon asked how much they used, Nolan simply replied, “Uh, two million feet of film.”<\/p>\n

Then the footage nearly got ruined<\/h2>\n
\"How
Credit: Universal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As if filming wasn’t stressful enough, Nolan also revealed there was one moment where the production nearly lost part of the film before it had even been developed. During Fallon’s “Christopher Nolan myths” game, the host asked whether airport customs agents had almost destroyed the IMAX footage while the crew were travelling.<\/p>\n

“That is true,” Nolan admitted. “Yes. Painfully true.”<\/p>\n

He explained it happened while the production was travelling to Scotland. He said, “It was a massive amount of film cans, and they did not actually expose it. We were able to rescue it.”<\/p>\n

Fallon asked whether he had been panicking and Nolan replied, “Oh yeah, big time.”<\/p>\n

Everything was filmed for real wherever possible<\/h2>\n