Christopher Nolan Opens Up About a Major Inspiration Behind ‘The Odyssey’

Christopher Nolan has never hidden the fact that he draws inspiration from some of cinema’s greatest filmmakers. Throughout his career, the Oscar-winning director has cited classic movies and legendary directors as influences on everything from The Dark Knight trilogy to Oppenheimer.

Now, as he prepares to bring Homer’s epic The Odyssey to the big screen, Nolan has revealed that one unexpected film played a major role in shaping his vision for the ambitious adaptation.

Nolan has revealed that one of the biggest inspirations behind his upcoming movie The Odyssey was Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ. Speaking with USA TODAY ahead of the film’s release, the Oscar-winning director explained that Scorsese’s controversial classic played an important role in shaping his version of Homer’s legendary story.

While many fans expected Nolan to look mainly to ancient mythology or classic adventure movies, he said The Last Temptation of Christ had a much deeper influence on how he approached the character of Odysseus.

According to Nolan, the movie was screened during pre-production as he and his team prepared to make The Odyssey. He said it stood out for both its filmmaking and the way it presented one of history’s most famous religious figures.

“We screened a few different films in preproduction, and that one in particular we got a print of,” Nolan told USA TODAY. “It’s a stunning movie and a shocking film. There were technical things that Scorsese was doing that were quite inspiring, but more than that, the figure of Jesus and what he does with him was very, very challenging to the audience. That was quite inspiring from the point of view of Odysseus: You want to be true to all the difficulties of the character, and that’s what ‘Temptation’ is.”

Released in 1988, The Last Temptation of Christ was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Willem Dafoe as Jesus. The film became one of the director’s most controversial works because it presented Jesus as someone who struggled with fear, doubt, temptation, and human emotion. While it received praise from many critics, it also sparked protests around the world and divided audiences because of its interpretation of the biblical story.

For Nolan, that willingness to show an iconic figure as flawed instead of perfect became an important lesson while making The Odyssey.

His new film follows Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, as the Greek king spends ten years trying to return home after the Trojan War. Along the way, he faces monsters, gods, impossible choices, and the emotional weight of everything he experienced during the war. Rather than portraying him as an untouchable hero, Nolan wanted audiences to see both his strength and his weaknesses.

The director also admitted that his own state of mind after making Oppenheimer influenced the story. After spending years working on a film about nuclear weapons and one of history’s darkest moments, Nolan said those emotions stayed with him.

“Coming out of ‘Oppenheimer,’ I had a funny combination of despair and optimism,” he told USA TODAY. “That film was almost a horror film for me. It was a very disturbing subject to live with for a couple of years: thinking nonstop about nuclear war and what humans bring to the table. I was quite glad to move out of that. But when you see ‘The Odyssey,’ you start to realize that I didn’t quite manage to escape it.”

That emotional conflict became part of Odysseus as well. Nolan explained that the hero carries the pain of war throughout his journey, making The Odyssey more than just a fantasy adventure filled with mythical creatures.

Although The Last Temptation of Christ had the biggest impact on the emotional side of the movie, Nolan also looked to other classics while developing its visual style. He said films like Jaws and Alien helped shape how creatures such as the Cyclops and Scylla would appear on screen, with an emphasis on suspense instead of showing everything immediately.

Still, Nolan made it clear that Scorsese’s film left the strongest impression when it came to building the main character.

The Odyssey is Nolan’s first movie since Oppenheimer, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, and many others.

For Nolan, however, one of the biggest creative lessons behind this massive production came from a film released nearly four decades ago. As he told USA TODAY, The Last Temptation of Christ showed him that legendary figures become far more compelling when filmmakers are willing to explore their struggles instead of presenting them as flawless heroes.

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