THR reports that Benny Safdie is set to reunite with Christopher Nolan for The Odyssey, the director’s epic adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek poem.
Safdie played theoretical physicist Edward Teller in Oppenheimer, and much like that film, he’ll be part of an all-star ensemble cast for The Odyssey that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal.
The Odyssey tells the tale of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his journey home after the ten-year Trojan War. The trip was filled with peril, including encounters with the Cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe. At home, Odysseus is presumed dead, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must contend with groups of unruly suitors who each want Penelope’s hand in marriage to control the kingdom.
When Universal Pictures officially announced the project last year, the studio described it as “a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology.” Production is slated to kick off in late February, and some reports state that this could be Nolan’s most expensive film to date. It’s expected to cost $250 million but could very easily go higher.
Nolan is never one to take the cheap route, and he will be filming all over the world for The Odyssey, including the actual locations where Odysseus was believed to have been. A recent report stated that Nolan will shoot part of the film on Favignana, Sicily’s “Goat Island,” which is “believed to be the place where Homer envisioned Odysseus landed with his motley crew to barbecue goats and stock up on food. The idyllic isle is part of the Egadi archipelago off of Sicily’s north-west coast.“
Benny Safdie will make his solo directorial debut with The Smashing Machine, a biopic about MMA fighter Mark Kerr starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. A24 will release it later this year. He’s also expected to appear in Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2, which will debut on Netflix later this year.
The Odyssey will hit theaters on July 17, 2026.
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