By Xu Aiying
Photos = Park Dae Jin
Video = Universal Pictures' official YouTube channel

Director Christopher Nolan and the main cast of "The Odyssey" have visited Korea to promote the epic blockbuster, which is riding high after topping the box office charts in 69 countries.

"It's an honor to be here in Korea, something I've wanted to do for a very long time but it's my first trip here," the director on Aug. 3 told a news conference for the movie at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul's Jongno-gu District,

He had announced in a handwritten letter last month that he would make his first trip to Korea.

Rising to global fame with a string of blockbusters including "Inception" (2010) and "Dunkirk" (2017), Nolan won seven Academy Awards in 2024 for "Oppenheimer" (2023) and gained recognition as one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation.

"Something I've wanted to do for a long time is to come to Korea with one of my films, I think really starting from when we released 'Interstellar.' We started to learn that Korean audiences responded very, very well to that film, and we were seeing how long it played in cinemas and how many people went to see it," he said.

"It was very, very exciting and it's a strange thing to have made a film and have people in another part of the world that you have never been to, and you don't have an idea or an impression because you haven't been there yourself, but to know that audiences there are responding to your film."

Also at the event were actors Matt Damon, who plays the protagonist Odysseus, and Charlize Theron (Calypso) as well as producer Emma Thomas.

In his first visit to Korea since 2016, when he came to promote the movie "Jason Bourne," Damon made headlines shortly after arriving by going to Gocheok Sky Dome to watch a pro baseball game wearing a Seoul Kiwoom Heroes uniform.

"I've always heard about baseball in Korea and how I have to see it. It was such a wonderful experience because the cheering sections for the two teams, that doesn't happen in America," he said. "It was so exciting for us to see the energy that the fans brought and how involved and invested they were. It was a completely different way to watch a baseball game."

Nolan repeatedly stressed the value of seeing a movie at a theater even in an era when cinema consumption methods have been diversified due to online streaming.

"The thing that cinema offers you is an experience of sharing a story with an audience," he said. "I think with a story like 'The Odyssey,' we're really trying in the way we've made the film to bring the audience on Odysseus' journey. So we want the audience to feel that they're on the deck of the ship with him."

On what message they want to send Korean audiences through the film, Damon said, "Much like the original poem, depending on where you are in your life, it resonates in different ways for you. I think the film is very rich thematically and so hopefully, it will resonate in different ways with the audience."

Theron added that she hoped for the film to provoke "a great conversation afterwards."

Premiering in Korea on Aug. 5, "The Odyssey" is about the journey home of Odysseus, who leads the Greeks to victory in the Trojan War. Based on Homer's eponymous epic poem, the film is the first in cinematic history to be shot entirely with IMAX cameras, providing an overwhelming scale and immersive experience.

xuaiy@korea.kr