Christopher Nolan on ‘The Odyssey’, 70mm Imax editing process

Christopher Nolan takes viewers behind the scenes of the intimate process of putting together an Imax film in a ’60 Minutes’ interview about ‘The Odyssey’.

In one of two clips obtained exclusively by Varietysays Nolan to ’60 Minutes’ correspondent Scott Pelley: “Shooting ‘The Odyssey’ is about scale. It had to be the biggest movie we’d ever made. It had to be a challenge for all of us, because that’s the nature of the story.”

“Looks like you almost drowned Matt Damon,” Pelley says upon seeing a cutscene of Damon as Odysseus guides a ship through stormy waters. Laughing, Nolan replies: “We definitely put it to the test.” In a separate interview, Damon agreed: “It was by far the hardest movie I’ve ever made. Not even close.”

In the second clip, Pelley explains in voiceover that “The Odyssey” is the first feature film in history to be shot entirely on Imax, as Nolan demonstrates his process – literally cutting and gluing frames together – in the world’s last film laboratory of its kind.

“When Nolan was 16, he saw an Imax documentary at a museum and was fascinated by the five-story screen,” says Pelley. “But Imax is expensive and cumbersome. Digital photography and editing are faster and cheaper, so hardly anyone does this anymore.”

“Why keep this ancient art alive? Well, the 70mm Imax frame has a resolution or image quality up to three times that of digital,” continues Pelley. “Art – the hard way.”

Nolan’s “60 Minutes” interview airs Sunday at 7 p.m. on CBS and streams on Paramount+.