Christopher Nolan says Ryan Coogler called him before committing to film 2025’s Sinners in IMAX, looking for reassurance that the creative leap made sense—an encouragement Nolan says he gave wholeheartedly.
Christopher Nolan didn’t just get a call from Ryan Coogler while the plans for Sinners were still forming—he got a call because the choice was big enough to need a second voice.
Nolan. discussing his upcoming film The Odyssey in an interview with The New York Times. revealed that Coogler reached out before committing to filming Sinners in IMAX. When Nolan was asked whether filmmakers seek his advice on handling IMAX technology. he answered plainly: “Ryan called me before he committed to IMAX [for Sinners].”.
But Nolan says Coogler wasn’t hunting for technical guidance. He was looking for validation—whether using the premium format for his vampire film actually added up creatively. “I think Dunkirk (2017) was the first time I dragged [Coogler] to a screening of an original-made film print of IMAX. I love to show filmmakers the potential of the format,” Nolan recalled. “So he called me when he was prepping. but really I think he was sort of looking for someone to tell him it wasn’t crazy to shoot his vampire film that way. I was like, no, I’d love to see that.”.
That reassurance landed at a moment when Nolan himself is pushing IMAX even further. The Odyssey, Nolan’s upcoming project, is the first commercial feature shot entirely in IMAX. Nolan said one of the greatest satisfactions in his career has been helping technology evolve for filmmaking. and he’s now eager to see other directors take the leap—then bring their own creative fingerprints to it.
“My excitement for having finished [The Odyssey] entirely in IMAX is: what other filmmakers might want to do that. I just want to go see somebody else’s film when they do it this way,” he told the publication.
There’s a practical side to all of this, too. Nolan said he filmed The Odyssey across six countries with a production involving thousands of cast and crew members. Rather than relying heavily on CGI, he emphasized practical filmmaking techniques. Even so. he described IMAX as demanding in a very literal way—IMAX created a new “blimp system” for him to house and move its large. noisy cameras more easily.
To make the oversized equipment workable while filming, Nolan explained that actors used mirrors to see each other during takes.
The scale of Nolan’s IMAX push has already reached audiences well ahead of release. IMAX tickets for The Odyssey—set to hit theatres on July 17—began selling out nearly a year ago. The film stars Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, John Leguizamo, Travis Scott and Zendaya, among other A-listers.
And for Coogler, at least, the moment before committing to IMAX for Sinners appears to have been less about specs and more about courage—the kind a filmmaker sometimes needs one trusted collaborator to confirm.
Christopher Nolan Ryan Coogler Sinners IMAX The Odyssey Matt Damon Anne Hathaway Tom Holland John Leguizamo Travis Scott Zendaya