The Odyssey Finally Solves the Most Common Complaint About Christopher Nolan Movies
After Tenet and Oppenheimer were slammed for muffled dialogue, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is poised to fix the sound-mixing problem and finally let the words be heard.
Christopher Nolan seems to have finally heard the biggest gripe about his recent movies: people couldn’t make out the dialogue. If Tenet and Oppenheimer had you leaning forward like you were trying to lip-read, his next one, The Odyssey, looks determined to fix that.
What changed this time
In a new Empire interview, Nolan’s go-to cinematographer, Oscar winner Hoyte van Hoytema, says their upgraded IMAX setup on The Odyssey has taken a big bite out of the on-set sound problems that dogged past shoots. For the first time, they’re making a full-on blockbuster shot entirely on IMAX cameras, and they brought along a new trick: a sound-dampening housing for the camera nicknamed a 'blimp.'
Old-school IMAX cameras are notoriously loud. Loud cameras mean dirty production audio, which pushes you toward ADR and mix decisions that fans love to hate. The blimp quiets the camera enough that they can capture whisper-level performances right there on set, inches from an actor’s face, without trashing the take.
'The blimp system is a game-changer. You can be shooting a foot from an actor’s face while they’re whispering and get usable sound.'
To prove it, van Hoytema screened a massive IMAX close-up of a child quietly reading David Bowie’s 'Sound And Vision' off a sheet of paper. He called how the image and sound played together touching; Nolan’s reaction was basically: this is the kind of intimate shot they simply couldn’t get before. It’s a very nerdy test, but it makes the point: if The Odyssey’s dialogue is still muddy, it won’t be the camera’s fault.
The Odyssey, in Nolan mode
Nolan wrote and directed the film, which he’s calling a mythic action epic based on Homer’s classic. Expect Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, trying to make it home after the Trojan War while everyone back home assumes he’s dead. In his absence, his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, are stuck fending off a parade of suitors who want to take Odysseus’s place. That’s the template; Nolan being Nolan, don’t be shocked if he bends it.
Who’s in it and when you can see it
- Matt Damon leads as Odysseus
- Also in the cast: Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Mia Goth, Himesh Patel, Samantha Morton, Will Yun Lee, and more
- Shot entirely on IMAX cameras, with Hoyte van Hoytema behind the lens
- Produced by Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
- In theaters July 17, 2026
Short version: the big-scale visuals aren’t going anywhere, but this time Nolan wants you to hear the words too. About time.