Christopher Nolan has explained why he opted for modern English dialogue for his new epic The Odyssey.

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One of the biggest movies of the year, the film is an adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem by Homer, and stars Matt Damon as a king embarking on a perilous journey home from war. When the trailer arrived for the film, audiences were surprised about the way dialogue was delivered in the film. Most of the actors have American accents, and Tom Holland’s Telemachus refers to Damon’s character, Odysseus, as “Dad” instead of “Father”. Traditionally, historical dramas have a more formal dialogue, but in an interview with The Los Angeles Times, Nolan explained the deviation was intentional.

He discussed wanting to find “language that has emotional not intellectual meaning to people,” opting for contemporary accents and dialogue over something elevated or theatrical. “I was maybe being naïve, it might bite me on the ass, but I wanted an earthy narrative,” he explained. “To me it was a no-brainer.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he talked about why it was also a “no-brainer” to cast Damon in the lead, having worked with the actor on 2014’s Interstellar and 2023’s Oppenheimer. “I’d worked with Matt twice before and he has such a great connection to the audience, he draws them in,” he said. “For this very complex character, you need an actor who disappears into parts, who is very open to the audience. You want the audience to go with him through his mistakes – and he makes a lot of mistakes. Matt was everyman for The Martian, a kind of superhero for the Jason Bourne films, and Odysseus is part everyman, part superhero.”

The Odyssey is released on July 17 and has already earned rave reviews from critics, who have described the film as “a triumph” and “a crowning cinematic achievement”. Damon’s co-star in the film, Tom Holland, recently recalled how a misunderstanding led him to initially think Nolan hated his performance.