Robert Downey Jr. Interviews Christopher Nolan, Matt Damon About ‘The Odyssey’ (Exclusive Video)

Prior to this week, the awards campaign for The Odyssey was eerily quiet. Christopher Nolan has been averse to campaigning, as always, but perhaps more so than ever in the wake of his Oppenheimer Oscars sweep three years ago. Anne Hathaway has been on maternity leave. And Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Zendaya have been in production on movies. John Leguizamo and Samantha Morton have been doing their best to carry the load, but many observers were wondering if and when the big guns would finally come out, given that several other contenders — among them La Bola Negra and You Can See Everything — have been steadily picking up steam.

This week, we got our answers.

On Tuesday night, hundreds of industry insiders — guild members and press — gathered on the Universal lot for the world premiere of Behind the Scenes of The Odyssey, a 75-minute film about the making of the epic. Nolan made opening remarks, and Damon moderated a post-screening Q&A with 12 key behind-the-scenes contributors to the film: producer Emma Thomas, casting director John Papsidera, editor Jennifer Lame, production designer Ruth de Jong, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, head of hair department Gloria Casny, head of makeup department Luisa Abel, sound mixer Willie Burton, supervising sound editor Craig Henighan, composer/songwriter Ludwig Göransson and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson.

On Wednesday evening, across the pond, the film screened at the BFI Imax, on the largest Imax screen in the U.K., in front of hundreds of Academy and British Academy members. Afterward, Scottish TV presenter Edith Bowman moderated a Q&A with Pattinson — who’s currently generating significant conversation as the apparent frontrunner for the role of James Bond — and Holland.

Meanwhile, back in Hollywood on Wednesday night, following a 70 mm Imax screening of the film at the TCL Chinese Theatre, Nolan, Thomas and Damon sat for a Q&A moderated by none other than Robert Downey Jr., who, of course, won an Oscar for Oppenheimer. Downey introduced Thomas as “the one person without whom none of us would be here tonight,” hailed Damon for giving “a generation-defining performance” and described Nolan as “by any metric the most consequential, influential, successful and important director of his generation.”

THR is pleased to exclusively share footage of that full conversation below.

Also on Wednesday night, simultaneously but across town, the film screened at the Academy Museum’s Ted Mann Theater, after which Göransson, James Blake and Travis Scott, the trio behind the film’s end-credits track “When I’m Home,” discussed their collaboration in front of an audience of Society of Composers and Lyricists members.

On Thursday night, the film screened yet again, this time at Nolan’s preferred Imax in the L.A. area, the one at Universal CityWalk Hollywood, for an audience made up of members of the Visual Effects Society. Afterward, Nolan and the film’s VFX supervisor Andrew Jackson were interviewed by Nolan’s fellow best director Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, a visual effects aficionado himself.

Now, ahead of Sunday’s Governors Awards, more talent from The Odyssey is descending upon Los Angeles, so an additional 70 mm screening will be held on Saturday night at the Academy Museum, this one targeting Academy and SAG-AFTRA nominating committee members, after which a Q&A will be held with Damon, Holland, Leguizamo, Morton, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Himesh Patel and Elliot Page.

So begins, for team The Odyssey, the odyssey that is the Oscar season.