Nolan's The Odyssey Kicks Off Oscar Push With Making-Of Premiere

A 75-minute making-of film titled Behind the Scenes of The Odyssey had its world premiere on the Universal lot on Tuesday night, opening a week of screenings and Q&As for Christopher Nolan's film, according to hollywoodreporter.com.

Nolan made opening remarks at the premiere screening. Matt Damon then moderated a post-screening Q&A with 12 behind-the-scenes contributors, among them producer Emma Thomas, editor Jennifer Lame and composer Ludwig Göransson.

Screenings continued on Wednesday. The Odyssey played at the BFI Imax in London that evening for Academy and British Academy members, followed by a Q&A with Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland moderated by Edith Bowman. That same night in Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr. moderated a Q&A with Nolan, Thomas and Damon after a 70mm Imax screening at the TCL Chinese Theatre.

Also on Wednesday night, Göransson, James Blake and Travis Scott discussed their collaboration on the end-credits track "When I'm Home" at the Academy Museum's Ted Mann Theater.

On Thursday night, Nolan and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson were interviewed by Guillermo del Toro after a screening at the Universal CityWalk Hollywood Imax for Visual Effects Society members. Another 70mm screening is set for Saturday night at the Academy Museum for Academy and SAG-AFTRA nominating committee members, with a Q&A featuring Damon, Holland, John Leguizamo, Joe Morton, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Himesh Patel and Elliot Page. The Governors Awards take place on Sunday.

Quiet campaign until this week

Before this week, the awards campaign for The Odyssey had been quiet, with Anne Hathaway on maternity leave and several cast members in production on other movies. Three years ago, Nolan's Oppenheimer had an Oscars sweep, and Downey Jr. won an Oscar for that film.