It was all but evident that Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to the Academy Award-winning juggernaut that was “Oppenheimer” would have the expectations of being another awards-worthy contender. “The Odyssey” is Nolan at his grandest, enlisting the largest ensemble he’s assembled so far, helping develop new IMAX technology to shoot the first-ever film entirely on IMAX 70mm, and filming across six countries in what was the most strenuous shoot of his career. Now that the world has seen “The Odyssey,” it has all but met the expectations most audiences had for what was promised as an unfathomable undertaking to bring history’s oldest story to life. It’s certainly on its path to be a box office behemoth, as the opening weekend for “The Odyssey” is not only the biggest of Nolan’s career so far but the largest for a live-action film this year, placing it up there next to “Toy Story 5” and “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” “The Odyssey” even surpassed many critical expectations, scoring an 89 on Metacritic and earning a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics like it. Audiences love it. Will the Academy follow suit? The answer is undoubtedly yes.
Top to bottom, “The Odyssey“ will cast a large shadow throughout this year’s upcoming awards season, much like the towering Polyphemus did over Odysseus and his men, currently stepping in to take the way-too-early frontrunner mantle for Best Picture. The film could even score nominations in almost every below-the-line category: Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Production Design, Best Original Score, Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, and Best Casting are all up for nomination. There’s even a world where “The Odyssey,” with the right campaign, could get Travis Scott’s end-credits song “When I’m Home” nominated for Best Original Song. However, that feels nowhere near as solidified as the other categories mentioned, especially with Nolan’s frequent collaborators, who are either previous winners or nominees in those categories and have already established themselves in the Oscar club.
Nolan will certainly be in the conversation all year for nominations in above-the-line categories such as Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, given the insurmountable task he took on to bring this epic to life. As of now, the only categories in “The Odyssey“ for which there’s no certainty are the acting categories and Best Original Song, as mentioned earlier. The film could earn anywhere from one to three acting nominations on its best day, with Anne Hathaway seeming like the most sure-fire nominee out of the ensemble. At this moment, Best Supporting Actress, at least on paper, is a wide-open race and is nowhere near as stacked as the other acting categories. If Universal Pictures plays their cards right, Hathaway will certainly be in the conversation for earning her second Academy Award, especially with the career year she’s having between this “Mother Mary,” “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “Verity,” and “The End Of Oak Street.”
While there’s love for Samantha Morton, especially with her character’s sequence considered one of the standout moments of “The Odyssey,“ Morton will need a mix of critics’ love, a strong campaign, and an overall showing at the precursors for her to join Hathaway in this category. To my personal delight, the one performance so far that has garnered the most organic adoration is John Leguizamo’s turn as Eumaeus, the blind servant to Odysseus who has never wavered in his steadfast loyalty to his master, believing that one day he would return. Leguizamo, in a performance that feels in line with what David Krumholtz did in “Oppenheimer,” has already shifted past the lines of mere discussion, as his name has real weight in the industry. He’s an Emmy-winning, Tony Award-nominated veteran who has, for decades, delivered iconic performances. This could be the moment he’s tied to the right project that could finally earn him his first Academy Award nomination. The energy around him is similar to that of Benicio Del Toro’s turn last year in “One Battle After Another,“ in that while there are other supporting players far more likely in the race at this time, people will gravitate toward Leguizamo because of their adoration for the character.
Matt Damon is in an interesting position because while he is the face of the film, there have been plenty of leads who have missed despite being the engine that the film is based around (Think Tom Cruise in “Top Gun: Maverick” or Margot Robbie for “Barbie“). Yet despite Best Actor having a slew of big names on paper as potential candidates, many of them can fall out if the films don’t meet expectations, something that happens every year. At least to Damon’s benefit, he is undoubtedly attached to a film which is beloved by everyone and will be present all year. He’s also getting raves, with many calling his turn as Odysseus one of the best performances of his career. It’s a physically demanding showcase that Damon more than sells. It may not align with the Academy’s current preferences, but we’ve seen performances like Russell Crowe in “Gladiator” make it in. If Michael B. Jordan, someone who many didn’t predict to make his way into a Best Actor lineup, let alone win for “Sinners,” can do it, Damon surely can.
Of course, there will be those asking if Nolan can do it all again in terms of either winning Best Picture, Best Director, or both. It’s too early to tell, but Nolan has a strong chance of winning another director prize, as that branch isn’t opposed to repeated winners, especially afterglow wins. Many are holding out hope that Denis Villeneuve will finally win Best Director, as everyone is hyping up “Dune: Part Three“ as the conclusion we have been promised since the trilogy began. As of now, since so much is unseen, the only real film that has premiered and stands a chance of winning is Los Javis’ “La Bola Negra,“ which made a more-than-splashy welcome at a relatively cool Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
Both “La Bola Negra“ and, if it lands, “Dune: Part Three“ could play as spoilers to key below-the-line wins “The Odyssey“ would need if it were to win Nolan his second Best Picture award. Nolan’s reputation as the President of the DGA, what he’s doing in terms of his commitment to practical filmmaking, and getting audiences to the theaters is all but fuel to the fire that lights up his contemporaries to want to push him towards the same path Steven Spielberg did with “Schindler’s List“ and “Saving Private Ryan.“ Maybe this time Nolan will be able to do what Spielberg didn’t and get that second Best Picture win too. It’s only the beginning of this long, strenuous marathon called awards season that we experience every year. Still, Nolan is already in a better position at this time of the race.
Here are the categories the Next Best Picture team is currently predicting “The Odyssey” to receive Oscar nominations in:
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress (Hathaway)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Casting
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup & Hairstyling
Best Production Design
Best Original Score
Best Sound
Best Visual Effects
John Leguizamo is the only one who currently sits outside the top 5 in our predictions, currently at No. 8 for Best Supporting Actor.
Do you think Christopher Nolan will win another Best Director Oscar? Will “The Odyssey“ win Best Picture? What could be the film that stops it from steamrolling this upcoming awards season? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account, and check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
