Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey gets a salute from Greece’s prime minister
Kyriakos Mitsotakis praised Nolan’s The Odyssey after Greece shoots, rebates and a strong local box-office run put the film in the spotlight.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey and Greece are having a very public moment: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held a video call with the British filmmaker this week and praised his big-screen take on Homer’s epic, according to the Greek Prime Minister’s Office.
The office released an image of the call and a Greek-language note saying Mitsotakis congratulated Nolan for bringing The Odyssey to cinemas. The note said the prime minister also thanked him for helping drive worldwide interest in ancient Greek culture.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Mitsotakis said productions of this kind connect Greece’s cultural inheritance with modern creativity. He also referred to the film’s box-office performance and voiced appreciation that a “significant portion” of the movie was shot in Greece.
What did the Greek prime minister say to Christopher Nolan?
Mitsotakis congratulated Nolan on adapting Homer’s poem for the screen and thanked him for the film’s role in drawing attention to ancient Greek culture, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. He also acknowledged the production’s commercial success and its Greek filming footprint.
The friendly call landed shortly after a sharp public rebuke from classicist Emily Wilson, whose 2017 translation of The Odyssey was cited as an influence on Nolan. In a review for the London Review of Books, Wilson wrote that she “would be ashamed to have written any part of the script,” Deadline reported.
Nolan’s production spent three months filming in Greece’s Peloponnese region in spring 2025, according to Deadline. Locations included Nestor’s Cave, Voidokilia Beach, Almyrolaka Beach, Methoni Castle and Acrocorinth.
The film’s reported budget was $250 million. Deadline reported that the production used Greece’s 40% film cash rebate, receiving €6.4 million, or about $7.2 million. Greece’s Ministry of Culture also assisted with access to heritage sites while overseeing preservation concerns, according to the report.
Why has The Odyssey drawn attention in Greece?
The Odyssey is one of the central works of ancient Greek literature, traditionally attributed to Homer, and follows Odysseus’ long journey home after the Trojan War. A high-profile film version tied to Greek locations can turn old texts, historic sites and language into fresh tourist and cultural talking points.
Deadline reported that the production faced early criticism over the lack of Greek actors in the cast. Since then, the film has received a broadly positive response in Greece, with locals valuing the renewed interest in Greek classics, culture and language, according to the outlet.
The numbers also gave Mitsotakis plenty to cheer. As of July 29, The Odyssey had drawn 408,758 admissions in Greece over two weeks at 300 cinemas, Deadline reported. Its nearest box-office rival, Toy Story 5, had 252,640 admissions after six weeks in theaters.
For Nolan, the prime ministerial congratulations offered a high-level Greek endorsement at a noisy moment for the film: praised by the government, criticized by a leading translator and watched by hundreds of thousands of Greek moviegoers in its first fortnight.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.