Can Christopher Nolan Adapt 'The Iliad'?
Christopher Nolan
Image Source: IGN Nordic
Christopher Nolan’s version of The Odyssey is a welcome change from a superhero movie cluttered summer. Based on an oral poem by Homer composed in the 7/8th century (and written down 400 years later) in Ancient Greece, it follows the journey of Odysseus home from war.
But it wasn’t Homer’s only work. Will this end up being a two-parter? Could Christopher Nolan adapt The Iliad and does he have the directorial chops to make it work?
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The Iliad is very different from The Odyssey.
Nolan directing the Odyssey
Image Source: Critical Popcorn
The text covers the last moves of the Trojan War, and includes characters like Agamemnon, Paris & Helen, Hector and Achilles. The Odyssey is very much the focus of one man and his struggles. And if you look at Christopher Nolan’s slate, he loves to direct through the lens of a central character, whether it be a tortured Batman Begins, or Oppenheimer.
The Iliad looks at the friction between the different sides, people, events and Gods. It’s more up the street of Spielberg or Francis Ford Coppola. Both have plenty of action sequences, which Nolan has won Oscars for (Dunkirk), so the battle scenes would still be on point; if you are happy for the Ancient Greeks to have a shakey cam.
He Tried It Twenty Years Ago
Brad Pitt in Troy
Image Source: The Movie Buff
The story of the Iliad might be familiar as it does have a recent adaption, Troy (2004) starring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana. Back in 2004 when Troy was in the works, (and Nolan was new to the biz), Warner bros hired him to direct. Wolfgang Petersen was working on a Batman Vs Superman (with Colin Farrell and Jude Law) movie that was subsequently shut down. At the time, Petersen was the safer pair of hands, having just directed Air Force One and a few other big budget hits, whereas Nolan was just rising to fame on the back of Memento.
They gave Petersen Troy and let Nolan give Batman Begins a fresh look as a sweetener, which was the best thing for everyone. If Nolan had felt any attachment to The Iliad, he could have adapted it first, since it’s canonically earlier. But he deliberately chose the other epic poem, perhaps to avoid stepping on the late Wolfgang Petersen’s toes.
The Budget
The Odyssey Promo Image
Image Source: TV Insider
The Odyssey reportedly used over two million feet of film in ninety-one days. It has an estimated budget of $250 million, making it the most expensive film of Christopher Nolan’s career.An adaptation of The Iliad would be just as pricey (if not more), needing large scale battle sequences on land and sea. It potentially could also be a longer movie, as there’s standalone parts of The Odyssey that can be cut and still have the plot make sense. But you can’t do this with The Iliad.
It’s unlikely that Universal will the scrambling for a follow-up unless this makes silly numbers. Christopher Nolan does not also tend to direct series (although he does occasionally produce them), the Batman franchise was an outlier. He prefers an impactful stand-alones, which is another reason he won’t be knocking the studio’s door down.
Someone Else Is Doing It
The Song of Achilles book
Image Source: Tumblr
There are a number of potential productions of The Iliad that could clash with an attempt from Nolan. Matthew Lopez, director of Red, White and Blue has been attempting to get an adaption of The Song of Achillies (by Madeline Miller) made for some time. Although it’s currently stalled, he’s said in interviews that he hasn’t given up. Emma Thompson is also working on a script inspired by Pat Barker’s novel The Silence of the Girls, a feminist retelling that focuses on the plight of women in war zones. And Jorge Rivera-Herrans is currently writing his musical version of The Iliad. Epic the Musical (The Odyssey) went viral on social media, and is being made into an animated movie, and with it’s cult following, it’s highly likely that his yet untitled Iliad will also get optioned too.
All in all, it’s unlikely that we’ll see Christopher Nolan directing both of Homer’s epic poems. But that’s for the best as they require different specialisms, and there’s already a few versions potentially coming down the pipeline. Purists may never get the entirely historically accurate version of their dreams but let’s just hope for a good movie from whatever’s in production. We’ll always have Troy.
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