Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is courting controversy. Here are 4 reasons why
From casting call to dialogues and from location choice to peak detailing, Christopher Nolan's new film, The Odyssey, has triggered its share of outrage.
Christopher Nolan is known to habitually make hit films that also win big during the awards season. Since his last film, Oppenheimer, in 2023, the filmmaker also seems to have started scoring big with controversies.
Oppenheimer had primarily triggered outrage over a scene showing Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh involved in sexual activity while reading from the Bhagavad Gita. The scenes were censored in India, and the film went on to become a big success.
Nolan is now gearing up to release his multistarrer screen epic, The Odyssey, on July 17. The film has garnered due hype in India after his short promotional stopover here with cast members Tom Holland and Matt Damon. The Odyssey has, meanwhile, also garnered multiple controversies.
Issues have ranged from the casting of Helen to Americanised dialogues, and from choice of debated filming locations to aspects of peak detailing. Read on to know all about the protest points surrounding The Odyssey.
LUPITA NYONG'O AS HELEN
Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o plays a dual role in Nolan's film – as Helen of Troy and Helen's sister Clytemnestra. It is Nyong'o's casting as Helen that has raised the biggest storm as far as The Odyssey is concerned.
Traditionally, Helen is imagined as white in complexion, contrary to Nyong'o's African features. Homer's Greek epic, Odyssey, on which the film is based, mentions Helen as an Achaean – a term used for Greek ethnicity in the epic. Homer in his text describes Helen as "white-armed" and a fair woman with light features.
The issue drew global attention when a user named @MattWalshBlog, self-confessedly a "theocratic fascist" and a "DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) consultant", posted on X: "We're told that we shouldn't object to Helen of Troy being portrayed as a black woman. And yet if a major Hollywood studio made a film set in Africa and cast a white woman as 'the most beautiful woman in Africa,' those same people would literally riot in the street. If, say, Sydney Sweeney was cast in the role, they'd be driven to murderous violence. We all know this is the case."
The conversation gathered pace on social media when X owner Elon Musk personally replied to the post, saying: "Absolutely true. Such hypocrisy in Hollywood."
Nyong'o's casting has been the most debated topic of discussion about The Odyssey, despite the film's powerhouse star cast.
The actor defended her casting while speaking to Elle magazine, saying: "This is a mythological story. Our cast is representative of the world." Critics of that line of thinking, however, wondered why no Greek actor was cast in the film if global representation was a significant factor.
Helen has notably been played on screen in the past by Elizabeth Taylor (Doctor Faustus, 1967), Irene Papas (The Trojan Women, 1971), Sienna Guillory (Helen of Troy series, 2003) and Diane Kruger (Troy, 2004).
GREEK HEROES, YANKEE DRAWL
"You're pining for a daddy you didn't even know." Robert Pattinson as Antinous tells Tom Holland's Telemachus.
Social media has been flooded with memes and trolling over the seemingly deliberate American accent in the film's dialogues.
As Holland's drawls: "My dad is coming home," you can't but help picture Telemachus tucking into a burger and shake on the side.
Nolan was out to woo Gen Z tastes clearly, with his interpretation of the timeless historical. We're not sure if it's the right way to go about it.
On his part, the filmmaker has requested fans to wait for the film before jumping to conclusions. "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,” the filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter recently.
DEBATE OVER WESTERN SAHARA
The disputed west African territory of Western Sahara was one of the primary filming locations of The Odyssey, in turn generating controversy.
Nolan and his crew filmed in the Western Saharan coastal city of Dakhla, drawing volatile protests from the local Sahrawi population. The locals' reason for displeasure: Eighty per cent of Western Sahara has been under the illegal occupation of Morocco for around 50 years, and the United Nations has classified it as a “non-self-governing territory”. A major American film unit's arrival to shoot in the area was as good as to giving legitimacy to Morocco's occupying the area, they felt.
“By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory, Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco’s repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime’s efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara,” executive director Maria Carrion of Western Sahara international film festival said, according to a report in The Guardian.
PEAK DETAILING GAFFES?
Many history enthusiasts have claimed there are detailing discrepancies in costumes, weapons and armour. Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, for instance, wears a headgear that seems closer to Batman's mask than what a warrior of the era would wear, many feel.
Homer's Odyssey is said to be set in the Late Bronze Age, around the 12th or 13th century BCE. The overall look of the film, however, seems far more contemporary for a cinematic impact. Many on social media have also pointed out the ships shown in the film are more like Viking longships than Greek galleys.
ABOUT THE FILM
The Odyssey will be Christopher Nolan's first release after his global hit, Oppenheimer. The film, reportedly made on a budget of around $250 million, is based on ancient Greek poet Homer's Odyssey, with Nolan writing and directing it.
The film is about the 10-year journey of Odysseus (Damon), king of Ithaca, to his homeland after the Trojan War to protect his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland). The cast also includes Zendaya (as Athena), Robert Pattinson (Antinous), Charlize Theron (Calypso), Benny Safdie (Agamemnon), Jon Bernthal (Menelaus), John Leguizamo (Eumaeus) and Samantha Morton (Circe).
The Odyssey is scheduled to release globally on July 17, 2026.
Christopher Nolan is known to habitually make hit films that also win big during the awards season. Since his last film, Oppenheimer, in 2023, the filmmaker also seems to have started scoring big with controversies.
Oppenheimer had primarily triggered outrage over a scene showing Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh involved in sexual activity while reading from the Bhagavad Gita. The scenes were censored in India, and the film went on to become a big success.
Nolan is now gearing up to release his multistarrer screen epic, The Odyssey, on July 17. The film has garnered due hype in India after his short promotional stopover here with cast members Tom Holland and Matt Damon. The Odyssey has, meanwhile, also garnered multiple controversies.
Issues have ranged from the casting of Helen to Americanised dialogues, and from choice of debated filming locations to aspects of peak detailing. Read on to know all about the protest points surrounding The Odyssey.
LUPITA NYONG'O AS HELEN
Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o plays a dual role in Nolan's film – as Helen of Troy and Helen's sister Clytemnestra. It is Nyong'o's casting as Helen that has raised the biggest storm as far as The Odyssey is concerned.
Traditionally, Helen is imagined as white in complexion, contrary to Nyong'o's African features. Homer's Greek epic, Odyssey, on which the film is based, mentions Helen as an Achaean – a term used for Greek ethnicity in the epic. Homer in his text describes Helen as "white-armed" and a fair woman with light features.
The issue drew global attention when a user named @MattWalshBlog, self-confessedly a "theocratic fascist" and a "DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) consultant", posted on X: "We're told that we shouldn't object to Helen of Troy being portrayed as a black woman. And yet if a major Hollywood studio made a film set in Africa and cast a white woman as 'the most beautiful woman in Africa,' those same people would literally riot in the street. If, say, Sydney Sweeney was cast in the role, they'd be driven to murderous violence. We all know this is the case."
The conversation gathered pace on social media when X owner Elon Musk personally replied to the post, saying: "Absolutely true. Such hypocrisy in Hollywood."
Nyong'o's casting has been the most debated topic of discussion about The Odyssey, despite the film's powerhouse star cast.
The actor defended her casting while speaking to Elle magazine, saying: "This is a mythological story. Our cast is representative of the world." Critics of that line of thinking, however, wondered why no Greek actor was cast in the film if global representation was a significant factor.
Helen has notably been played on screen in the past by Elizabeth Taylor (Doctor Faustus, 1967), Irene Papas (The Trojan Women, 1971), Sienna Guillory (Helen of Troy series, 2003) and Diane Kruger (Troy, 2004).
GREEK HEROES, YANKEE DRAWL
"You're pining for a daddy you didn't even know." Robert Pattinson as Antinous tells Tom Holland's Telemachus.
Social media has been flooded with memes and trolling over the seemingly deliberate American accent in the film's dialogues.
As Holland's drawls: "My dad is coming home," you can't but help picture Telemachus tucking into a burger and shake on the side.
Nolan was out to woo Gen Z tastes clearly, with his interpretation of the timeless historical. We're not sure if it's the right way to go about it.
On his part, the filmmaker has requested fans to wait for the film before jumping to conclusions. "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,” the filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter recently.
DEBATE OVER WESTERN SAHARA
The disputed west African territory of Western Sahara was one of the primary filming locations of The Odyssey, in turn generating controversy.
Nolan and his crew filmed in the Western Saharan coastal city of Dakhla, drawing volatile protests from the local Sahrawi population. The locals' reason for displeasure: Eighty per cent of Western Sahara has been under the illegal occupation of Morocco for around 50 years, and the United Nations has classified it as a “non-self-governing territory”. A major American film unit's arrival to shoot in the area was as good as to giving legitimacy to Morocco's occupying the area, they felt.
“By filming part of The Odyssey in an occupied territory, Nolan and his team, perhaps unknowingly and unwittingly, are contributing to Morocco’s repression of the Sahrawi people and to the Moroccan regime’s efforts to normalise its occupation of Western Sahara,” executive director Maria Carrion of Western Sahara international film festival said, according to a report in The Guardian.
PEAK DETAILING GAFFES?
Many history enthusiasts have claimed there are detailing discrepancies in costumes, weapons and armour. Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, for instance, wears a headgear that seems closer to Batman's mask than what a warrior of the era would wear, many feel.
Homer's Odyssey is said to be set in the Late Bronze Age, around the 12th or 13th century BCE. The overall look of the film, however, seems far more contemporary for a cinematic impact. Many on social media have also pointed out the ships shown in the film are more like Viking longships than Greek galleys.
ABOUT THE FILM
The Odyssey will be Christopher Nolan's first release after his global hit, Oppenheimer. The film, reportedly made on a budget of around $250 million, is based on ancient Greek poet Homer's Odyssey, with Nolan writing and directing it.
The film is about the 10-year journey of Odysseus (Damon), king of Ithaca, to his homeland after the Trojan War to protect his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and son Telemachus (Tom Holland). The cast also includes Zendaya (as Athena), Robert Pattinson (Antinous), Charlize Theron (Calypso), Benny Safdie (Agamemnon), Jon Bernthal (Menelaus), John Leguizamo (Eumaeus) and Samantha Morton (Circe).
The Odyssey is scheduled to release globally on July 17, 2026.
