Christopher Nolan may be known for pushing the boundaries of cinematic storytelling, but with 'The Odyssey', the Oscar-winning filmmaker has taken on one of humanity's oldest and most celebrated tales.

Speaking to the media in Mumbai during the film's promotional tour on Saturday, Nolan, along with his producer wife Emma Thomas, reflected on bringing the 3,000-year-old Greek epic to the big screen, opening up about the challenges of adapting Homer's timeless work, the sheer scale of the production, and whether he felt any pressure while reimagining a story that has endured for millennia.

Asked if adapting one of the world's most revered literary works came with a sense of responsibility, Nolan admitted that the real pressure came not from the original author but from the generations of readers who have cherished the epic.

“I certainly wasn't worried that Homer, whoever or whatever they were, was going to come after me. But Homer, whoever or whatever they are, has plenty of representatives who feel they know exactly what was intended.

So any time you take on a piece of literature that's known and beloved by so many people, and this is a story that's fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years, a lot of people have a lot of different ideas of what it's going to be like,” said Nolan.

Drawing a parallel with his experience of adapting another iconic work, Nolan said the approach remained the same: stay true to one's own vision while respecting the original content.

“But for me, like when Emma and I were doing the ‘Dark Knight’ films, we were working with a beloved character in the background; we sort of realised that you just have to make the best film you can and put a strong interpretation… your interpretation on it. And I think people who love the piece of literature, in this case, ‘The Odyssey’, hopefully they enjoy the respect that we're showing to the original source by making as good a film as we know how to make.”

Joining him, Thomas, who has produced the movie, spoke about the numerous challenges of bringing 'The Odyssey' to life. While every Nolan film presents its own set of challenges, she said this one stood apart because of its scale and the complexity of its production.

“The thing that was really unique about ‘The Odyssey’ was the scale of it, because I think every film that we've made has its own challenges. But this film felt like it had many challenges, and we shot it in multiple locations. Each of them had very complicated and big set pieces that we had to choose from. On pretty much every film we've ever made, there's always at least one big scene where you spend a lot of time thinking about how you're going to do it. But this one, there were so many, and each time you finished one, and you felt good about finishing it, you'd realise that, oh no, next week we have to do another one. But we had an amazing cast, and we had a fantastic crew, a global crew, and everyone was perfectly qualified with all the experience that they'd gained on the other films to make this one work,” said Thomas.

Given the sheer scale of 'The Odyssey' - from adapting a literary epic to creating a film of such huge production, Thomas was also asked to describe the film in just three words.

Her answer reflected both its spectacle and its emotional core, as she said, “Epic. It has to be the first one. It's absolutely huge, and the story is told on the grandest scale. Second, I would say experiential. It's a big experience. It really makes you feel like you're in it with the characters. And then finally, and actually most importantly, the third word to describe it is human. It’s so because I think that as big as the movie is and as far in the past as we know it takes place, ultimately what really distinguishes the story for me is the fact that, and I think what is so great about what Chris and these amazing actors have done is that it makes us identify, makes us realise that we have more in common with these people from the past and with our fellow human beings than we realise. We're all just human, ultimately. We care about home, wherever that is, whether that be a place or a relationship or whatever. So yeah, human.”

Her thoughtful response was immediately followed by a moment of humour from Nolan, who chimed in with his own three-word description of the film.

“That's much better than my three words - Matt, Tom, and Anne.”