A deep-dive interview between filmmaker Christopher Nolan and Chinese doctoral student podcaster Zhongshu about his new film, The Odyssey, has gone viral worldwide, amassing over 20 million views.
Building on his Oscar-winning success with Oppenheimer, Nolan has turned his attention to Homer’s Odyssey, a cornerstone of Western literature. His latest film chronicles the Greek hero Odysseus as he embarks on a prolonged journey home to Ithaca following the Trojan War, while his wife and son fend off suitors eager to claim his throne.
Nolan attended the film’s China premiere in Beijing on July 30. The following day, he sat down with Zhongshu – an online alias for Zhuge Yiyang, a PhD candidate in political philosophy at Boston College.
During the 17-minute interview, the two engaged in a rich discussion on themes of civilisational decline, heroism, and contemporary film criticism.
Zhongshu began by characterising Nolan as “a bard for a civilisation at dusk.” She contended that, just as Homer preserved the memories of Odysseus, Achilles, and Agamemnon, Nolan has reshaped modern audiences’ perceptions of iconic characters like Batman, the Joker, and Robert Oppenheimer.