The Odyssey is currently impressing audiences with its reliance on practical old-school filmmaking, but that hasn’t stopped it being at the center of several conversations on AI. While Christopher Nolan hasn’t used the technology at all in his filmmaking, several versions of his film and Homer’s classic tale are being developed with AI.
Speaking in a recent interview, Nolan was asked about his thoughts on the growth of the technology, and it seems he’s viewing it with a healthy dose of cynicism. “I think AI is a Trojan horse that everybody knows the Greeks are inside,” the Oscar-winning filmmaker told Hugo Décrypte YouTube. “It’s a transparent horse, it’s made of glass. Everybody can see what’s going on inside of there.”
He went on to add: “I’ve never seen a technology advancing so rapidly, so completely rejected by the public. Everybody’s suspicion of it is so extreme, particularly young people. The reaction to AI videos online and people my children’s age immediately calling it ‘AI slop’ and coining that term and just putting it in a box, which I think is a very healthy skepticism, because technology is always going to give us great gifts, as you say, but it has to be viewed with skepticism.”
Nolan went on to add that he feels this is the right approach as AI grows in all areas, not just in filmmaking. “The motives of the people giving it to us also have to be viewed with skepticism,” he continued. “That’s when we’ll get the best out of a new technology, rather than just blind faith that everything’s going to be great. It’s actually pretty encouraging to see young people in particular being so suspicious of it.”
A fully AI-generated version of The Odyssey is arriving later this summer from another production company, who’ve said they know it will be inferior to Nolan’s. Meanwhile, Deadline reports that Elon Musk has announced his plans to make a version of the film too.
Meanwhile, The Odyssey is doing tremendously well at the box office. It’s already become Nolan’s highest rated movie from critics and it had the second highest opening of his career so far, just behind The Dark Knight Rises.
For more on the film, check out our The Odyssey review, our breakdown of The Odyssey monsters, and our deep dive into The Odyssey ending explained.