Christopher Nolan on the epic feat of filming ‘The Odyssey’

“It’s definitely cinema in its purest form,” said Van Hoytema, the Dutch cinematographer who has worked with Nolan since 2014’s Interstellar.

“He loves trying new things he hasn’t done before, as do I. We like to spend a lot of time in real places, in real locations, having things in front of the camera that are tangible and tactile.”

For The Odyssey, the first commercial feature film made entirely with the bulky IMAX camerasthat meant recording in oceans and deserts, in three-minute bursts.

Although Nolan often mentions that three of his films have won Oscars for best visual effects, many of his techniques would be familiar to directors of a century ago; others were cutting-edge inventions created just for him.

Nolan and I had talked about his philosophy and anxiety surrounding the film.

In separate interviews, he and Van Hoytema talked about their approach and why they don’t like to plan everything.

Below are edited excerpts from the conversations.

-Why were you so determined to use IMAX, even with all these technical challenges?

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: I had originally seen IMAX movies in museums and theme parks when I was growing up and I immediately thought:

Why aren’t they making movies like that?

That was when I was 16 or 17 years old.

Now I’m about to turn 56 and I’ve finally been able to do it.

I have been using the format for almost 20 years.

We started just with the action sequences, you’re climbing a mountain with a camera, sailing across the seas and all that.

Then we tried to incorporate it over the years into more intimate scenes.

But the big obstacle to that was the sound, because the cameras are very, very loud.

HOYTE VAN HOYTEMA: It sounds like a lawnmower, a diesel engine.

NOLAN: After Oppenheimer (2023), I called my friends at IMAX.

I still couldn’t tell them what the movie was about, but I told them that if we were ever going to make a movie entirely in IMAX, this was it.

So let’s finish these new chambers, let’s find some kind of soundproofing system.

And they designed this system soundproof casing in which we could put the camera.

VAN HOYTEMA: A year before production, we were presented with three different prototypes.

With the soundproof casing, you don’t hear anything, just a small purr, in the distance.

But to filter the sound, it had to be heavy, a whole new set of problems to overcome.

We ended up with a very clunky box, almost the size of an SUV.

We were stubbornly determined to make it work.

with brute force, holding it to tripods, or going up and down hills.

Sometimes we transported the camera (tied to a rope) from a helicopter to reach specific locations.

But these are practical problems that you can solve with mechanics and machines.

NOLAN: Every shot in those scenes (with a lot of dialogue) was a matter of engineering, because you can’t take a 400-pound camera and put it on an actor.

You have to build chain hoists, find a way to move the camera properly.

Everything has to be done safely.

And there were a lot of unknowns, because you can only load three minutes of film.

I had to find a rhythm between my crew, my actors and I to suspend the shot, reload the camera and keep everyone focused.

The tradition with “action” and “cut”… there is an incredible concentration between those two words.

Once you say cut, everyone breathes a sigh of relief; the tension disappears.

What we have to do is keep everyone in that spell.

The first AC (camera assistant), Keith Davis, discovered how to reload the camera incredibly quietly and incredibly quickly.

He managed to reduce it to less than two minutes.

When we first worked with IMAX, in 2007, we were warned that a recharge took 25 minutes.

VAN HOYTEMA: When we started doing it, I heard the mythology about the (IMAX) camera, the size and how difficult it is.

We decided: why don’t we just try it?

I like to make filmmakers understand: you have to try it.

(In The Odyssey), I operate the camera for 90 percent of the film.

The naked IMAX camera does not weigh 45 kilograms. It doesn’t even weigh half as much, you know?

And someone puts it on my shoulder.

I don’t carry it around all day.

I have already worked so many times with the same people; They know the weight and how to secure it.

My chief engineer, Kyle Carden, is like a ballet dancer; He is strong and powerful but also very sensitive.

The soundproof casing, when I lean down, becomes so top heavy that I would do a cartwheel on the dolly.

Kyle resisted him with a counterweight.

Ryan Monro, my dolly driver, it’s almost like we become a two-headed monster, always tangled.

In the waves, when I go sideways, he puts an arm around me and counterbalances me.

He described it as two men playing Twister, struggling with a sewing machine.

It’s funny to watch but very effective.

-They use many practical effects. To do it in a film of this scale is quite a feat. Why do it? It’s not cheaper, is it?

NOLAN: Very often it is.

When we were making Tenet (2020) and I was looking at how to stage a 747 crashing into a building, it actually made sense, economically, to buy a plane, build a building and crash it there, and then sell the plane for scrap.

In reality, you are looking for a consistency of tone at a photographic level.

Taking a real ship to a real ocean and filming the actors in that environment means a fairly high load on the visual effects.

My visual effects advisor, Andrew Jacksonyou find real-world solutions as you go.

In The Odyssey, we use all the techniques in the manual, paints, painted backdrops.

They can create a much more convincing illusion—because of the way you can light them—than having a green screen or even a photo backdrop.

We also used a lot of false perspective illusions where you build smaller things in the background.

In Tenet, I remember seeing this beautiful painted backdrop; There is a river and reflections of the rippling water.

You realize that they put strands of fishing line with pieces of aluminum foil and a fan blowing.

It just gives it that little sparkle that water would have.

They are old tricks that fool the eye, that fool the camera.

VAN HOYTEMA: We watch the daily shots every day, all together.

So whether or not you use CG effects depends a lot on what you already have filmed.

(When filming in IMAX), our entire process is analog.

When you opt for a digital effect, you have to scan your original negative and reduce the resolution to do so.

Then you film it again at a reduced resolution.

You have a whole step in which you can lose a lot of quality.

The more we keep the effects in camera, the more we maintain that original quality.

That has always been very important to us.

-Do you make a storyboard or storyboard?

NOLAN: I don’t usually think in visual terms.

I want, in a way, discover it during the processthat’s part of the fun.

I’ve done less and less storyboarding over the years.

I do it for department heads if we have a complex action effects sequence.

Hoyte has been a real master at saying, okay, we’re going to film the fall of Troy, with all these thousands of extras, things that we’re going to set on fire, but he knows I want to get to that night and try things.

VAN HOYTEMA: With Chris, you want to find yourself somewhere you haven’t really been before, understand the energy, and channel it into the perfect way to communicate that energy.

That will never be represented by drawings made months before, in an office.

I love the fact that we get out of our cars in the morning, get to the set and see what the weather is like, how the actors are doing.

Sometimes things (like elements of scenery) collapse overnight.

Interesting things happen.

You never know what the sea is going to do.

One day it can be very windy and the next, you can film on a mirror.

We had an incredible marine department that closely monitored the tides.

We had a climate specialist.

But the truth is, you can only predict so much.

And we don’t want to predict everything, you know?

Otherwise, we’d better record in a studio.

You want to welcome the ends of the world with open arms.

-They also invented a new lighting system.

VAN HOYTEMA: For 95 percent of the film, the nights are illuminated only by lights that we built ourselves.

It is an invented word, due to its form:

When Chris and I talked about the movie very early on and watched a lot of the movies (for reference), the big battle scenes started to bother me.

Traditionally they were illuminated by lunar boxes:

gigantic frames over the scene that contain lights and shed a very soft, fake moonlight on it.

I couldn’t help but always notice the mechanical lighting.

So the initial idea was that I wanted to light everything with fire.

I wanted the camera to see what the human eye would see.

Of course, you soon discover that it is very impractical.

Because A) fire gives very little light, so you have to light a lot of fire to achieve it.

AND B) every time you light a flame, instead of extras, you need special effects people and a firefighter with a fire extinguisher.

So I went back to the drawing board: could I make a firework that we bring to the set and light?

We started testing and working with an LED lighting company.

We opened an entire production facility to mass-produce these lights, using custom-made components, some electronics that already existed, and others that we manufactured.

We had 1000 panels of more than one meter; We could literally hide them in every corner.

They were designed to give that blinking so real, based on real flames.

We had different setups, for stormy weather and calm weather.

You just had to place them and you could see the fire a mile away, glowing through the trees.

For me, it was a revelation to work like that at night.

NOLAN: That’s what I love. Putting all the elements in place so that we can experience something and the actors experience something, and let that guide the photography.

Trying to create a world and then live in it.

Melena Ryzik is a roving culture reporter for the Times, where she covers the personalities, projects and ideas driving the creative world.