Christopher Nolan treats music as a key part of his storytelling, not just background noise. The ticking in Dunkirk, the powerful organ in Interstellar, and the way sound shapes time in Tenet all show how he uses music to drive the story.

For The Odyssey, Nolan and composer Ludwig Göransson took a different path. Instead of using the rich, sweeping orchestral sound often heard in Hollywood’s ancient world films, they built the score using reconstructed instruments, archaeological research, and performances based on history.

This makes the music a main way for the audience to feel part of Homer’s world, not just something playing in the background.

Matt Damon as Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. Photo © Melinda Sue Gordon / Universal Studios

Breaking Away from Hollywood’s Ancient Greece

For more than 50 years, movies set in ‘Ancient Greece’ have used full symphony orchestras. Big strings, loud brass, and choirs have become the go-to sounds for showing epic heroism.

This style comes from 19th-century European Romantic music, not real ancient sounds. Movies like Troy, 300, and Alexander use music that feels familiar to us today. Instead of trying to bring back the sounds that...