Christopher Nolan has seen the takes, and he is not impressed. Speaking to The Telegraph, the two-time Oscar winner dismissed online criticism of his cast for The Odyssey, including Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy and Elliot Page as Greek soldier Sinon.
“But remember, I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman,” Nolan said, recalling the backlash to his choices when he revived the Dark Knight in 2005. “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 learnt… 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.”
“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 casting fight, in brief
Critics on social media fired at the casting before a frame of footage had surfaced. Elon Musk claimed Nyong’o was cast “because he wants awards.” Matt Walsh called it cowardly. The complaint was that Nyong’o and Page were not “accurate” to Homer’s text.
Nyong’o dismissed the backlash weeks earlier. “Our cast is representative of the world,” she said. “I’m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.”
What The Odyssey is actually about
The film follows Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, on his decade-long journey home after the Trojan War. Penelope is Anne Hathaway; Telemachus is Tom Holland. The cast also includes Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Benny Safdie, John Leguizamo, Himesh Patel, Bill Irwin, Samantha Morton, Jesse Garcia, Will Yun Lee, and Mia Goth.
None of those actors has drawn the same public anger as the dual casting of Nyong’o as Helen and Clytemnestra, or Page as Sinon.
Why It Matters
Nolan is one of the few directors whose unretouched film attracts billions in box office and weeks of pre-release culture war simultaneously. The Odyssey is already guaranteed attention; the only question is whether it will be watched or debated first.
For another prestige film facing pre-release backlash over casting decisions, see our Oscars 2026 predictions and contender analysis.
