Christopher Nolan has said his 2023 film Oppenheimer was the key to getting his latest project, The Odyssey, made, telling Jon Stewart on The Daily Show that its unexpected success gave him the leverage to convince a studio to back such an ambitious epic. This matters because The Odyssey, an adaptation of Homer's foundational ancient Greek poem, requires an enormous budget and cast, and Nolan suggests even his track record with blockbusters like the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and Interstellar wasn't enough on its own to guarantee the studio's confidence.

Speaking during the interview, Nolan credited both the box office performance and the awards recognition Oppenheimer received with persuading the studio to greenlight the costly production. He also revealed that filming, though gruelling, wrapped ahead of schedule and under budget, with the shoot completing on day 91 of a planned 100-day schedule, as cast and crew reached the point of exhaustion. The Odyssey is currently projected to open in the $80 million to $100 million range at the US box office.