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Meanwhile, you may have noticed that not everyone is impressed. The project has been controversial almost since it was announced in late-2024, overwhelmingly due to far-right backlash over just about everything we've come to expect from those clowns.
They're enraged that the great Lupita Nyong'o was cast as Helen of Troy, which has been a particular focal point for Elon Musk, who seems obsessed with claiming this is an example of anti-white racism (it is not, of course).
They're enraged that Elliot Page was cast as a Greek soldier (Sinon). Some of them are enraged over the erroneous perception he was cast as Achilles (who doesn't appear in the film). All of them, of course, are pissed that Mr. Page, a trans man, was cast at all.
They're enraged that the film opens with rapper Travis Scott playing the bard Phemius and reciting lines in beat to the pounding of his staff. They claim to be upset because Black people weren't represented in Ancient Greece, which is, of course, incorrect (check out this article from MoMA as an entry point on that). They're not a little upset that a hip-hop artist would play a famous bard, which is hilarious because, as Mr. Nolan astutely points out, rap is arguably the most analogous modern art form to ancient song.
They're enraged that Mr. Nolan, in writing the screenplay, drew considerable inspiration from the celebrated translation of The Odyssey published by Dr. Emily Wilson in 2017. Dr. Wilson notably became the first woman to publish an English translation of the epic poem. While receiving widespread praise for her contemporary linguistic lens in presenting the tale, some detractors deemed it as "woke."
