Odyssey star reveals how techno-skeptic Christopher Nolan contacts you without a smartphone in 2026
If you want to get in touch with Christopher Nolan, you might have to send a raven because the man behind The Odyssey is a self-confessed 'tech-skeptic'. Starting with the likes of Following and Memento, Nolan really hit the big time with his Dark Knight Trilogy.
Since then, the director has been on something of a winning streak and is considered one of Hollywood's best after delivering everything from Inception to Oppenheimer.
Nolan is back in the news thanks to The Odyssey, with film fans tipping this retelling of Homer's 8th-century BC poem to cross the billion-dollar mark.
Despite an all-star cast of Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and more, Elon Musk branded Nolan an anti-White racist due to the inclusion of Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy.
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Others have taken issue with transgender actor Elliot Page's casting as Sinon, and some have even complained that the outfits aren't historically accurate.
None of this seems to be affecting The Odyssey's performance, with many reporting it's sold out on IMAX screens for weeks.
Why doesn't Christopher Nolan have a smartphone?
Matt Damon has now revealed how Nolan gets in touch with you after he famously revealed he still doesn't have a smartphone.
In 2023, Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter how he shies away from text and email, choosing to write his scripts on a computer that's disconnected from the internet: "My kids would probably say I’m a complete Luddite. I would actually resist that description. I think technology and what it can provide is amazing.
"My personal choice is about how involved I get. It’s about the level of distraction. If I’m generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn’t be very useful for me.”
Jump forward to 2026, Damon explained to People how the big guy gets in touch. Before learning he'd been cast as Odysseus, Damon said he got a text from Nolan's wife, Emma Thomas, with her writing: "Are you around for a call today?"
Damon says he was aware that Nolan doesn't have a phone, but apparently, Thomas always gives you a heads-up, adding: "Then you get a phone call from a nondescript number, because he’s just picking up a line at Universal Studios."
Because of this, even Nolan "doesn’t know what number it’s going to be," making it a one-way communication.
Damon and Nolan apparently chatted for about 15 minutes, with the Good Will Hunting star unaware of what the fateful conversation held because Oppenheimer had just gone through the Academy Awards.
Damon assumed it would be at least another 18 months until Nolan would go back to work, with this simple conversation about him wanting to adapt The Odyssey being a general chat: "I just thought we were catching up, which we did. And then he blurted out, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking of going back to work.’ And I went, ‘Wait, already?’”
Christopher Nolan isn't a technophobe
When grilled by The New York Times about whether he's a 'technophobe', Nolan admitted: "I think of myself as a techno-skeptic. The reason I still shoot on film is because it’s better in terms of representing the way the eye sees the world than any digital imaging system I’ve seen, and I’ve looked at all of them very carefully."
Backing up his tech credentials, he says he's always edited his films digitally and uses visual effects, reiterating that he embraces new technology 'all the time'.
He's still wary of evolving tech, warning that it "tends to be sold to people at the expense of systems that might still be valid and viable."
Reminding us that it could be seen as throwing the baby out with the bath water, Nolan concluded: "We almost lost film!"
If you're planning on getting yourself cast in Nolan's next epic, you might be best writing him a letter – preferably not in the blood of your vanquished enemies.