Christopher Nolan Says WB Offered BATMAN BEGINS as a “Consolation Prize” After Losing TROY
Christopher Nolan is gearing up to unleash his massive mythic adventure The Odyssey, and fans are already fired up to see him dive headfirst into ancient-world storytelling.
But, it turns out this isn’t the first time he circled a swords and sandals epic. Long before Gotham City came calling, he almost made Troy. According to Nolan, that detour is what led him to Batman Begins in the first place.
In a new conversation with Empire Magazine, the filmmaker revealed that he was originally on track to direct the 2004 film Troy before Warner Bros. shifted the project to Wolfgang Petersen. When that happened, the studio handed Nolan something else instead a project that would pretty much reshape modern superhero cinema.
Nolan explained: "I was originally hired by Warner Bros. to direct Troy. Wolfgang [Petersen] had developed it, and so when the studio decided not to proceed with his superhero movie ['Batman Vs Superman'], he wanted it back."
He added that the world of Troy had always stayed with him. "At the end of the day, it was a world that I was very interested to explore. So it’s been at the back of my mind for a very long time. Certain images, particularly. How I wanted to handle the Trojan horse, things like that."
That lingering desire is part of what eventually pushed him toward The Odyssey, but at the time, being pulled off Troy came with a surprising trade off.
Nolan said Batman Begins was presented as a “consolation prize”, which is wild to think about considering how massive that trilogy became. His grounded take on the Caped Crusader remains one of the most celebrated superhero stories ever put on screen.
Meanwhile, Troy went on to star Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, and Diane Kruger, pulling in nearly $500 million dollars worldwide despite mixed reviews. But, imagining what Nolan might have done with that material is a fascinating what if.
As for The Odyssey, Nolan says the appeal of the project runs deep. "As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before.
"And 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 cast includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Benny Safdie, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, and Mia Goth are all coming along for this epic journey.
The film opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.