The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert Christopher Nolan, Dave Grohl (Extended Cuts)
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May 5, 2026 
Christopher Nolan, Oscar-winning director of big-scale films, talks about adapting The Odyssey with Matt Damon, nonlinear structure, practical IMAX filmmaking, and mythic storytelling. Dave Grohl, Nirvana drummer turned Foo Fighters frontman and 19-time Grammy winner, reflects on carrying on after Nirvana, family, longevity in music, and a playful DIY album scavenger hunt with his daughter.
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The Odyssey As Storytelling Bedrock
- Christopher Nolan chose the Odyssey because it's the foundational adventure story underpinning Western storytelling and modern superheroes.
- He saw Homeric epics as the original shared universe that feeds everything from Marvel to Star Wars, motivating a large-scale cinematic treatment.
Homeric Epics Are The Ancestors Of Superheroes
- Nolan sees modern comic-book cinema as a cultural continuation of Homeric epics where gods and larger-than-life figures reflect collective desires.
- He links our belief in gods walking among us to today's superheroes as a modern expression of the same impulse.
Practical Effects First To Ground The Fantastic
- Nolan emphasized using as much in-camera practical effects as possible, supplementing with VFX only when necessary.
- For The Odyssey they applied virtually every technique on set to ground fantastical elements in physical reality.