Despite using more than 2 million feet of film to bring Homer’s The Odyssey to the big screen, writer/director Christopher Nolan is keeping the cinematic experience under three hours.

The 2x Oscar winner recently revealed that his upcoming film, which films July 17 in Imax, has a “shorter” runtime than his 2023 epic Oppenheimer , which clocked in at 180 minutes.

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” he explained to the Associated Press . “But it is shorter.”

Nolan added, “There’s a massive amount of pressure. Anyone taking on The Odyssey is taking on the hopes and dreams of people for epic movies everywhere and that comes with a huge responsibility. What I learned from [making The Dark Knight trilogy] is that what people want from a movie about a beloved story, a beloved set of characters, is they want a strong and sincere interpretation. They want to know that a filmmaker has gone to the mat for it.…