“The Odyssey” is destined to be one of Christopher Nolan‘s most epic movies given the subject matter, but it won’t be his longest. Speaking to the Associated Press, the Oscar winner confirmed his upcoming tentpole “is shorter” than “Oppenheimer.”

“It’s an epic film, as the subject matter demands,” Nolan told the outlet. “But it is shorter.”

“Oppenheimer,” Nolan’s best picture-winning biographical drama about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II, had a runtime of 180 minutes. But a three-hour length and an R rating did nothing to stop the movie from becoming a blockbuster with a whopping $975 million at the worldwide box office. Expectations are sky high for “The Odyssey.” One would think the film’s action elements would make it an inherently easier sell to audiences than the predominantly talky “Oppenheimer,” which clearly had no problem being sold to audiences in the first place based on the strength of Nolan’s brand.

“There’s a massive amount of pressure,” Nolan told the AP about his new movie. “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. I really tried to make the best film possible.”

Nolan previously revealed to Empire magazine that he “shot over 2 million feet of film” during the making of “The Odyssey,” which filmed for 91 days. Matt Damon reunites with the director after “Interstellar” and “Oppenheimer” to headline “The Odyssey” in the lead role of Odysseus. Tom Holland plays his son, Telemachus. The sprawling ensemble also includes Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal.

“As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before,” Nolan told Empire about why he chose to adapt Homer’s Greek epic. “And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with – Ray Harryhausen movies and other things – I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.”

“The Oydssey” will also be a huge theatrical draw as its the first Hollywood feature film to be shot entirely with Imax cameras. A new Imax film casing called a “blimp” was created for the movie to significantly reduce the noise Imax cameras produce so that dialogue-driven scenes could be captured on the large-format film.

The exact runtime and rating for “The Odyssey” have yet to be revealed. The movie opens in theaters July 17 from Universal Pictures.