Christopher Nolan explains why he cut a 3,000-year-old joke from The Odyssey

Despite how hard he 'tried,' Christopher Nolan has revealed why he was forced to cut a 3,000-year-old Homer joke from The Odyssey.

The countdown to The Odyssey is on with just two days to go until Christopher Nolan's take on the Homer epic hits big screens.

However, if fans of one of the two major Greek literature epics attributed to Homer were hoping to see a particularly punny line played out among the stellar cast - which includes Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Elliott Page and Lupita Nyong'o no less - then they may have to hold their (Trojan) horses.

In an interview on The Daily Show, Nolan sat down to talk about making the epic with host Jon Stewart who asked about 'a joke that Odysseus makes with the Cyclops.

Warning: Minor spoiler ahead for those who've not read the Homer epic.

Christopher Nolan left out a 3,000-year-old pun from The Odyssey and some fans have questioned why (Prodip Guha/Getty Images)

Stewart explained he saw The Odyssey with a writer from The Daily Show who's studied the original Greek text of the book.

He said, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter: "He was very upset that [the joke that Odysseus makes with the Cyclops] was not in the movie."

Nolan responded: "I understand. It’s a pun. Puns in translation are tough. I tried. It was not possible to work in it."

But what was the pun which was so hard to include it had to be left out?

Well, Homer's version of The Odyssey sees Odysseus tell the Cyclops his name is Outis (Greek for 'Nobody') when he first meets him.

Nolan tried his best but the pun was too difficult to fit in (Satish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Later on in the story, Odysseus pops a stake into the Cyclops' eye, prompting a scream and other cyclops stampeding in to provide back-up.

You can probably guess where the punny wordplay is going by now... The Cyclops crying out that 'Nobody' was stabbing him in the eye.

However, while the film adaptation doesn't feature the popular Homer joke, that's certainly not to say it scrimped on not staying as realistic and true to The Odyssey as possible in other ways.

During the interview, Nolan confirmed 'real boats' and 'real water' was used as he wanted to truly 'take the audience on this journey'.

He added: "We use every trick in the book, certainly. But we wanted to find real locations, get a real boat… It was a hard movie for all the right reasons. The Odyssey should be hard."

The Odyssey his theaters July 17.