New ‘The Odyssey’ Set Photo From Christopher Nolan Sends Fans Into A Frenzy

Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ has been one of the most closely watched theatrical releases of the year, and with the film now just a month away from hitting theaters, the marketing rollout has started picking up serious steam.

Fans who have spent more than a year piecing together leaked images and brief festival glimpses are bracing for a steady stream of new looks before the premiere. Nolan’s reputation for keeping his sets locked down has only made every fresh image feel like a small event.

The film reimagines the journey of the Greek hero Odysseus as he tries to make his way home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, running into legendary threats like the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the sorceress Circe along the way.

The ensemble includes Matt Damon as Odysseus alongside Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron. The production has also drawn plenty of attention for being shot entirely on IMAX film cameras, a first for a feature length movie.

On June 17, the fan account shared a new image captioned “Christopher Nolan on set of ‘THE ODYSSEY’,” showing the director standing on a windswept, overcast beach as several crew members look on nearby.

At the center of the frame sits a massive, dark, shadowy horse sculpture resting on the sand.

At CinemaCon earlier this year, Nolan explained why he finally felt ready to tackle Homer’s poem after attempting a different war epic decades earlier. Speaking during the film’s presentation, covered firsthand by The Credits, he said simply that ‘The Odyssey’ is not just a story, it is the story, pointing to the poem’s hold on audiences for thousands of years. He also admitted that the shoot had been an absolute nightmare to film, though he was quick to add that it was a nightmare in all the right ways.

Damon offered his own perspective in a recent in-depth interview with TIME, where he reflected on some of the more memorable locations used during production, including a beach in Morocco. He told the outlet that the spot, used for scenes involving Calypso, turned out to be, like, the kitesurfing capital of the world. It is a fitting detail considering how often Odysseus and his crew find themselves stranded on unfamiliar coastlines throughout the story.

‘The Odyssey’ is set to arrive in theaters on July 17, marking Nolan’s first film since his Oscar winning run with ‘Oppenheimer.’ With production long since wrapped and the press tour now ramping up, images like this new beach photo are likely just the beginning of a packed final month of buildup before release. Between the scale of the production and the secrecy surrounding it, every new glimpse seems destined to spark its own round of online debate.

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