Christopher Nolan has revealed that his upcoming epic The Odyssey will be shorter than Oppenheimer, offering a small reassurance to audiences ahead of what is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious films of the decade.

Speaking to the Associated Press, the Oscar-winning filmmaker confirmed the news simply: “It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands. But it is shorter.” 

Oppenheimer ran to 180 minutes, so The Odyssey will clock in at under three hours, though the exact runtime has yet to be announced.

The scale of the project is extraordinary by any measure. 

Nolan has previously revealed to Empire magazine that he shot over two million feet of film across 91 days of production. 

The Odyssey also marks the first Hollywood feature to be shot entirely on Imax cameras, a technical challenge that required a newly developed casing called a “blimp” to reduce the cameras’ noise enough to capture dialogue-driven scenes on large-format film.

Matt Damon headlines the film as Odysseus, reuniting with Nolan after Interstellar and Oppenheimer. 

Tom Holland plays his son Telemachus, with a cast that also includes Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal.

Nolan spoke candidly about the weight of adapting one of the most celebrated stories in human history. 

“There’s a massive amount of pressure. Anyone taking on The Odyssey is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility.” 

He drew on lessons learned from The Dark Knight trilogy when thinking about how to approach beloved source material. 

“What people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation. They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it.”

He also explained why he felt the story had never truly been done justice on screen. 

“What I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with, Ray Harryhausen movies and other things, I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, Imax production could do.”

The Odyssey opens in cinemas on 17 July from Universal Pictures.

Former NFL defensive end Josh Mauro has died at the age of 35, his family and former teams announced on Tuesday.

His father, Greg Mauro, confirmed the news on Facebook. He wrote, “With many tears and broken hearts, yet anchored in the unshakable certainty that our precious Josh Mauro is now healed and made new — living in the presence of the Lord.”

Mauro’s cause of death has yet to be revealed.

Mauro began his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals in 2014 and played for the franchise until 2018. He then went on to play for the New York Giants, Oakland Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars between 2018 and 2020, before returning to the Cardinals for his final season in 2021.

Over his career, Mauro played 80 games, starting in 40, and recorded five career sacks and two forced fumbles.

The Cardinals said they were heartbroken by the news, extending their “deepest condolences to everyone grieving this loss.”

The Raiders also paid a heartfelt tribute to the athlete via a social media post. The team wrote, “The deepest condolences of the Raiders Family are with Josh’s family and friends at this time.”

Stanford University, where Mauro played college football, also remembered him: “A 2013 All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection, Mauro was an integral part of four bowl teams, helping lead Stanford to a pair of Rose Bowl Game appearances.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced that he would ask King Charles, currently on an official visit to the United States (U.S.), to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India.

Replying to a question at a press conference on Wednesday, before the 9/11 ceremony, the Democratic Party’s socialist mayor said that if he were to speak to King Charles privately then “I would probably ask him to return the Kohinoor diamond.”

The diamond was taken during British colonial rule in India, which later gained independence and was partitioned into India and Pakistan.

The diamond has been a major bone of contention between the U.K. and India; however, Iran and Pakistan have also laid claims to the stone.

A spokesperson for the royal family declined to respond to Mamdani’s statement.

Mamdani is set to welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla for a 9/11 ceremony on Wednesday.

When asked about a particular message that he would like to send to the British royal family, the NYC mayor said, “I’ll be attending a wreath laying alongside other elected officials including Governor Hochul and Governor Sherrill.”

He continued, “The focus of that wreath laying is to honour the more than 3,000 New Yorkers who were killed in the horrific terror attacks of September 11. And that is really what I’m looking to do at that event.”