The Odyssey AI prompt
To create your own epic movie just like Christopher Nolan
Yesterday, many of you took the time to read what I had to say and some didn’t and that’s ok. But I did want to reward my loyal readers “proof” of my insight with a prompt that you can put in any AI and get a fairly similar story to what Christopher Nolan wrote.
AI-generated content is getting significant pushback recently, as the enemies of progress and change are real.
While Hollywood probably won’t admit it, AI is a great tool for idea generation. For instance, take content you love (say Batman movies) and create a framework for AI to provide some insight you may not have considered.
“I want to create a movie that takes place in the 19th-century Charles Dickens era and frame the story like Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Play on the divergent politics and problems Dickens confronted in his books”
The ones that use AI well know what they are looking for first. Which means they already kind of know what they want but would like some suggestions before spending more time on it.
It’s an amazing tool and will help speed up civilization if used correctly.
We live in a free country, and for that to occur, we need to be allowed to explore, make mistakes, and decide for ourselves what is good. When you take that decision away, then it’s not a country that allows exploration and will hinder progress.
We already eat GMO products, have “artificial” flavors in our food, the water supply may be contaminated, and sometimes our leaders are not telling us the truth. So to be outraged by AI slop says to me you are not consuming the right content.
So I offer one way of seeing this for yourself by generating your OWN entertainment. All great progress has occurred by being entertained with the principle of FAFO
This is a prompt I tested on the leading AI providers Claude, Chat, and Grok and the output was very similar.
“create a movie of odysseus as if its new and the source material is batman, marvel universe, superman cris reeves version, bourne identity, dune, and a antiwar hero slant”
As viewers, we are assuming we are getting the Odyssey as told by Homer. No, we are not. We are getting yet another superhero film dressed up as culture and relevant. At least that’s how I view it.
But now, unlike my film school days, I now have three ways of being proven correct. One, I try to get my friends to agree (good luck with that. Two, I start making movies that are popular or respected so my view will dominate anyone else’s (Quentin and Scorsese are great at this). Third, put it into AI and see if the story aligns with what you viewed.
Today, after I send this, I’m reviewing some of my Headline software and some Metrics on the market that help focus the week. If you would like to be updated, subscribe.
Love to hear what you discovered.
Eric