Despite The Odyssey giving up the throne to Spider-Man: Brand New Day at the box office, Christopher Nolan continues to make news, this time for a press tour interview he did in China that got deeply philosophical about art, history, storytelling, modern film criticism, and the appearance of Christian conceptions of atonement in his soon-to-be billion-dollar blockbuster.
Speaking to Chinese podcaster and political philosophy lecturer Zhong Shu in Beijing, which first appeared on China’s Bilibili video platform, the British filmmaker has something of a hard break from the usual interviews he’s done on The Odyssey’s globe-spanning press tour. There were no games, no soft-ball or rushed questions about his favorite moments from the production or anecdotes about the actors, instead Zhong’s interview was one of the rare ones where the filmmaker was probed about his personal philosophy and worldview and how that informed the making of The Odyssey.
As such, it was perhaps no surprise that the interview has gone viral as it gave us a fascinating insight into the thinking of arguably the world’s most popular filmmaker at the peak of his powers. Here are some key takeaways and highlights.
“Bard of a civilization at dusk.”
