Nolan's 'Odyssey' Crew Earns Middleburg Film Festival Award — SkimNews
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- Ellen Mirojnick, Ruth De Jong and Jennifer Lame will receive the Variety Creative Collaborators Award at the Middleburg Film Festival on Oct. 16 for their work on Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey."
- "The Odyssey" was the first film shot entirely on Imax 70mm, filmed over 91 days using 2 million feet of Imax film.
- Ruth De Jong built a Troy set spanning 2.5 acres (110,000+ square feet) with 2,000 extras and 60+ structures, used a fifth-century Italian castle ~1,030 feet above sea level as Ithaca, and managed art departments across six countries — while traveling carry-on only.
- De Jong said shooting in Los Angeles with her "longtime crews" gave her "so much less to worry about" on the multi-country production.
- Ellen Mirojnick said her team had to "deconstruct the mythology" before designing costumes, starting with Odysseus's outfit to establish the visual language for every other character.
- Jennifer Lame said Circe's animatronic pig scene (with Samantha Morton) cut like "a drama scene," while the Cyclops sequence combining a Greek cave, LA soundstage, and Bill Irwin's puppetry was "a real puzzle."
Why it matters: The award spotlights the craftspeople behind a historic production: 'The Odyssey' is the first film shot entirely on Imax 70mm, required 91 shooting days, and spanned six countries — with De Jong's Troy set alone covering 2.5 acres. Honoring a costume designer, production designer and editor together signals that Nolan's box-office milestone was as much an achievement of collaborative craft as of direction.
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