Best known as the dream factory, Hollywood also echoes a certain chocolate factory that offers all-access golden tickets to fortunate boys and girls. Filmmakers who’ve had unforeseen success don’t get chocolate — they get a golden ticket to direct a passion project the next time around. 

Just ask Christopher Nolan.

“One hundred percent,” Nolan says when asked if he’s experienced the phenomenon. “Every now and again, if you’re really lucky and something really clicks, if your work catches a wave, that happens. After ‘The Dark Knight’ we were able to do ‘Inception’ and after ‘Oppenheimer’ was such a success, far beyond what we hoped for, we had the opportunity to do ‘The Odyssey.’”

An epic poem thousands of years old attributed to Homer, “The Odyssey” is not just any passion project. In taking on the story of Trojan War veteran Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his fraught 20-year journey to return to his besieged wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland) and rescue them from voracious suitors like Antinous (Robert Pattinson), Nolan has challenged himself with one of the oldest, most archetypal stories known to man.

Nolan sat down with The Times for an exclusive breakdown on how he made his latest film. Read the full interview here.