Christopher Nolan finally addresses The Odyssey casting backlash
After weeks of backlash over casting for The Odyssey, the Oscar-winning director finally speaks up, defending the choices and laying out the thinking behind them.
If you thought Christopher Nolan was ready for a quiet life after Oppenheimer, think again. His next big swing is an adaptation of The Odyssey – yes, Homer’s epic that’s survived about three thousand years of nitpicking already. In classic 21st-century fashion, the online world has been picking it apart well before a single frame made it to screen. What are people actually bothered about this time? Well, practically everything – from whether the armour looks right, to modern turns of phrase in the dialogue, to, most ferociously, who’s actually in the cast.
Casting Controversy: Old Myths, New Faces
The real lightning rod seems to be the casting of Lupita Nyong'o and Elliot Page. Certain corners of Twitter, Reddit, and assorted comment sections insist the film should resemble 'real' ancient Greece (if we ignore, for a moment, that the original text is, you know, a myth). The internet hand-wringing has even dragged in celebrity commentators: Elon Musk and Matt Walsh both waded in on social media, moaning that Nolan’s choices are somehow offensive to historicity, Homer, or – who knows – their own sensibilities.
Up to now, Nolan hasn’t so much as blinked at the outrage. He’d more or less ghosted the entire conversation until cornered by The Telegraph for an interview. When pressed, he barely flinched:
These conversations that happen before people see the film – they're always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet.
For Nolan, apparently, the uproar goes with the territory. He compared this fuss to what happened on the Dark Knight films years ago, when fans utterly lost their minds over his decision to hire Heath Ledger – fresh from rom-com territory – as the Joker. We all know how that turned out: Oscar for Ledger, classic status for the film, everyone went very quiet in the end.
When I came on to Batman Begins, writers and artists had been working on this beloved character for almost 65 years, and a lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents. And what I learned over my time on that trilogy is you can't worry about any of that at all. What you have to do is honor the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way you personally can.
The man’s not exactly new to adapting stories that millions feel entitled to police. But this time, he’s going up against the combined weight of Western canon and what’s apparently called ‘historical accuracy’ by the loudest objectors.
For context, Nolan recently told Empire that he loves The Odyssey precisely because it’s endured so long – calling it 'a collection of the most fundamental and evocative extrapolations of everyday life, of what it is to be human.' Doubt we’ll ever get Twitter to agree on what’s 'fundamental to the human condition', mind you.
Lupita Nyong'o: Not Here for the Arguments
Lupita Nyong'o herself has been the definition of calm about it all. In an Elle interview she made it clear she won't be engaging with the outrage machine:
Our cast is representative of the world. I'm not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.
As far as she's concerned, this isn’t a period drama about Athenian democracy, but a big, mythological adventure.
What Nolan Thinks Adaptation Is For
Pressed a little further on whether he’s even trying to please everyone, Nolan was unequivocal:
All I can do is make the best film I possibly can in the most sincere way. It's very different from how anyone else would do it, but that's what adaptation is.
The Odyssey: Core Cast Breakdown
- Lupita Nyong'o – lead role (exact character under wraps)
- Elliot Page – significant supporting part
- (Other key cast TBA, as Nolan is keeping most cards close to his chest)