Christopher Nolan brings 'Odyssey' to Seoul: Nolan, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron attend press conference ahead of Aug. 5 release

Christopher Nolan arrived in South Korea on August 3, sitting down at a press conference at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul in Jongno-gu with producer Emma Thomas, Matt Damon, and Charlize Theron.

The film is Odyssey, Nolan's take on the ancient Greek epic. Damon plays Odysseus, the hero trudging through a decade-long journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Anne Hathaway is Penelope, his wife waiting for him. Theron plays Calypso.

Nolan has been sitting on this project for over 20 years. Production ran 91 days and burned through 2.1 million feet of film—roughly 640 km. It's the first feature ever shot entirely on IMAX film cameras.

"I heard long ago that Interstellar received great love in Korea," Nolan said. "The fact that audiences in a country I have never visited love my films has always felt special." He'd wanted to visit Korea for years. Odyssey finally got him there.

He made a case for the theater. "The theater is a space with unique value that cannot be experienced in other media," he said. It's the most personal and most communal way to watch a film all at once.

Damon remembered the call from Nolan. He knew immediately it would be the best thing he'd ever done. "Filming was a massive project like making seven films simultaneously," he said. "But if the opportunity comes again, I want to work together anytime." Theron was brief: "Joining itself was an honor."

Emma Thomas called Odyssey "the culmination of the challenge Christopher Nolan has continued over a long time."

Two days before release, the film hit a 40.1% real-time advance booking rate—around 350,000 tickets as of 11:40 AM on August 3. Spider-Man: Brand New Day was ahead at 42.3% in the summer box-office race. Odyssey opens in South Korea on August 5.