Christopher Nolan has pushed back on Matt Damon‘s recent comments about The Odyssey and the film industry. Damon recently made headlines when he said that making The Odyssey was “the last chance” he was going to have to do something like this. He was referring to traditional filmmaking, which many fear is disappearing in the face of digital technology and AI-assisted workflows.

Nolan has now pushed back on Damon’s “defeatist” view of filmmaking. Speaking with The Telegraph, the director expressed his views on why classic filmmaking techniques will remain popular.

“I think I know what [Damon] was driving at, because it does seem like a long time since somebody made a film like this in this type of way, where you travel the world, get together a cast of thousands and so on. But there’s a defeatist aspect of viewing it that way that I don’t agree with. I think cinema is vital and essential and continues to transform itself — we’ve got all these great new young voices in movies, making the medium their own and moving it forward.”

Nolan has long emphasized the importance of the theatrical experience. The filmmaker shot The Odyssey with new IMAX technology, and has always prided himself on pushing for practical setups and special effects, only relying on computer-generated effects when necessary. Despite shooting in international locations with a packed cast, The Odyssey still isn’t Nolan’s most expensive film. During its promotional tour, Nolan has also called the backlash against the film “irrelevant”, while also drawing attention to and defending his use of modern English dialogue in the film.

Before its release, early reactions to the film have hailed it as an “absolute triumph.”

The Odyssey releases in theaters on July 17, 2026.