Director Christopher Nolan is the rare unicorn filmmaker who can draw audiences to the theater and bring in the kind of box office numbers that every major movie studio dreams of. Seeing a Nolan movie feels like special event viewing, partly because audiences go see his films with a level of anticipation and excitement that only comes with not having many details and never fully knowing what to expect. And, apparently, the head of Universal had an even more unique experience when Nolan pitched her The Odyssey.
There is a level of secrecy surrounding the Oppenheimer director’s projects, though I'm only now finding out that it carries over to even the Chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment, Donna Langley. During an interview with Maria Sharapova for Pretty Tough, Universal’s Head Honcho described her experience with reading Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey, which sounds a bit like its own spy thriller. She revealed this about the IMAX savant's method, which includes his wife and producing partner, Emma Thomas:
It’s terrifying…. I’m terrified. Because well the way that Chris does it, or the way he did it on The Odyssey and on Oppenheimer, actually is I was invited over to their house, and I went by myself both occasions. And I didn't know what I was going to read because he doesn't say ahead of time. So you don't know until you're sitting in his library on the couch and he hands you the script. And so it’s a bit intimidating.
Not only does that sound intimidating and terrifying, I can’t imagine what would happen if you had a negative reaction while you were sitting in the home of the filmmaker responsible for writing it. Granted, Nolan is considered to be one of the best filmmakers in the entire world, but even the best at something has a bad day (or project) every once in a while, don’t they?
What strikes me as particularly interesting is the fact that even the biggest of big wigs at Universal doesn’t get to know ahead of time what she’s going to read when she knocks on Nolan’s door. I can’t imagine the level of heightened emotions that one experiences when reading a script from such an expert storyteller for the first time, as everything unfolds. But according to Langley, the pitch experience for this book-to-screen adaptation doesn’t just end there:
Then they leave, and I get a couple of hours to read the script on the same sofa…. And they leave me to it with a cup of tea. And then they leave, and then they come back when I'm finished and we talk about it.
It would probably be hilarious to watch the facial expressions of someone as they read a Christopher Nolan script. Especially someone so high up at the studio, as they realize what kind of budget they’ll need to do the story justice when it’s a story as epic as The Odyssey, one of the biggest blockbusters from the 2026 movie schedule. But knowing that, once finished, the Memento director and Thomas, will return to chat about it seems even more daunting. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear everything that they talked about once Donna Langley finished reading the Odyssey script. Langley added:
It’s a process that — I love it, because it feels very old school, and it’s very intentional. And it makes you pay attention, but it is slightly intimidating. But I think, in the best way possible, it makes me feel very alive.
I have to admit, there is something really cool about making everyone involved with getting a movie into production feel like they’re a part of a private little club of people let in on a secret that the world is not yet ready for. It’s an old-school approach, keeping technology out of it, and that tracks for Nolan, given he doesn't even own a smartphone. However, I understand how exhilarating it must be to be a part of the cool club. And Langley said that the scripts for The Odyssey and Oppenheimer were both brilliant and easy to talk about once she finished them.
The Odyssey's reviews were largely positive from general audiences and critics alike, even if some did point out historical inaccuracies and that side character problem. This historical epic lit up the 2026 box office in a big way, proving that if you release a movie people want to see, they will go see it, likely over and over again. Now, I'm just wondering when Nolan and Thomas might reach out to Langley with another script that would lead them to repeat their unique process.
