‘The Odyssey’: Christopher Nolan’s Next IMAX Movie Adds Benny Safdie!!

It’s not like Christopher Nolan to use actors more than once, is it? The man is up to his old tricks yet again with the news that Benny Safdie has become the latest former collaborator to sign on to the director’s latest blockbuster, The Odyssey, as per a report by The Hollywood Reporter today. The film will hit theaters on July 17, 2026. Safdie, fresh off his acclaimed portrayal of physicist Edward Teller in Nolan‘s Oscar winning epic Oppenheimer, joins a cast packed with Hollywood heavyweights including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.

Universal is pulling out all the stops for this ambitious adaptation of Homer’s legendary epic poem. When the studio announced the project in December, they described it as a “mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology“, as they look to bring Homer’s timeless tale to IMAX screens for the first time.

For those who slept through their classical history at school, The Odyssey follows the Greek hero King Odysseus on his arduous 10-year quest to return to Ithaca after the Trojan War (if you want to see that depicted on screen, check out Wolfgang Pietersen‘s historical war film Troy). Along the way, he encounters gods, monsters (hello, Cyclops — no, not James Marsden), and endless challenges that test his wit and endurance. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope and son Telemachus fend off suitors eager to seize his throne.

Details about which actors are playing which characters are as tightly guarded as the sneaky soldiers inside the Trojan Horse itself, and Universal has yet to comment on the specific roles, because they love us to speculate and get everything wrong. Production is slated to kick off in late February.

What Has Benny Safdie Been Up To?

While Safdie is best known for his directing work alongside his brother Josh Safdie, his acting chops have been equally impressive. He’s appeared in the Lionsgate adaptation of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Claire Denis’ Palme d’Or contender The Stars at Noon, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza. In 2023, he earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his role in the Showtime/A24 series The Curse, co-written and co-created with Nathan Fielder, and up next, he’ll share the screen with Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore 2 and see the release of his solo directorial debut, The Smashing Machine, a biopic of MMA fighter Mark Kerr starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt.