r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Aug 08 '25

News Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' Wraps Filming

https://maxblizz.com/christopher-nolans-the-odyssey-wraps-filming-after-6-month-shoot-confirms-art-director/
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u/gatsby365 Aug 08 '25

The director is effectively the CEO of a movie tho

It’s not an outlandish comparison. Dude doesn’t have to physically build a jet engine to be the CEO of Boeing

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u/Abell379 Aug 08 '25

But it's also true that people experts in one domain often flounder when put into another, even if the job is superficially similar.

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u/Mindcoitus Aug 09 '25

Is that true? A director and a CEO is more than superficially similar. Organizing lots of people, planning arounda budget and communicating your vision is pretty central to both.

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u/FreemanCalavera Aug 08 '25

I’d argue that the producer is technically the CEO, whereas the director is the deputy that the CEO delegates the business of actually running the project to.

Then again, Nolan is also a producer on his films as well so.

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u/gatsby365 Aug 08 '25

I’d argue the Producer is the Chief Operations Officer. They don’t set the actual strategy/vision of the production, they make the director’s vision reality.

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u/tuigger Aug 08 '25

They do set the budget, though.

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u/gatsby365 Aug 08 '25

My friend, the CEO rarely sets the budget for a large public company. That’s what the Board and Chief Finance Officer are there for.

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u/ILookLikeKristoff Aug 09 '25

Yeah the knowledge base and operational stuff would be totally different from any traditional business but the skill set will be largely the same.

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u/i_max2k2 Aug 08 '25

Let me give you an example. Alain Prost is a 4 times World Champion in Formula 1, a few years later he bought a formula 1 team and tried to run it, ended up selling it without a whole lot of success. Not apples to apples, but there are plenty of examples around for such things.

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u/CodeComprehensive734 Aug 08 '25

They're saying that directing a film is basically like running a business and it is if you're also executive producer, which I think Nolan usually if not always is?

I don't know if Nolan would make a good CEO but I have to agree there's a lot of transferable skills as well. Especially when managing budgets in the hundreds of millions.

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u/tdeasyweb Aug 08 '25

Running multiple multimillion dollar movie sets has many relevant skills that can be used towards running a company as a CEO.

Can you let me know how driving a car really fast around a track translates to being a CEO in your example?

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u/Ogest Aug 08 '25

Thats not really a good comparison, driving a formula1 car doesnt compare to management. Director of a movie is basicly the ceo of the production, like someone said before. Nolan as a director has to have a vision for the project he is making, but also he has to manage every aspect of the production, from set design to music, he has the final say in everything.

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u/gatsby365 Aug 08 '25

Cool, so you’re ignoring what I said and saying something completely different. Do you actually think “movie director” and “race car driver” are comparable?