Topline
Some conservative commentators, led by billionaire Elon Musk, have slammed Christopher Nolan’s hit “The Odyssey” over his choice to hire a diverse cast to bring Homer’s epic poem to the screen, but others, like Ben Shapiro and Lara Trump, are backing Nolan and praising the film.
Ben Shapiro has hailed “The Odyssey” as a “masterpiece,” clashing with some conservative commentators who have criticized the film’s casting. (Photo by Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Shapiro, in a post on X Tuesday, said conservative critics who have slammed “The Odyssey” are “missing the Biblical forest for the woke trees,” suggesting the movie has themes of “Biblical morality” and is a “large-scale win for civilizational values.”
Shapiro, though, called Nolan’s casting of transgender actor Elliot Page to play Sinon, cousin of Odysseus, “silly and egregious,” echoing a viewpoint espoused by many prominent conservative critics of the film.
But Shapiro said the controversy over the casting of Black actress Lupita Nyong’o to play Helen of Troy is a “dumbass discussion,” clashing with conservative pundits who have considered her casting an affront to the Greek text.
Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, has led the conservative crusade against the movie, calling Nolan “racist against the Greek people and their cultural heritage” by casting Nyong’o and Page and not Greek actors.
Matt Walsh, Shapiro’s colleague at the Daily Wire, fired off critical tweets about the movie after watching it Monday, saying in a post it is “just as woke as you fear, if not more so,” slamming Nolan’s alleged “DEI casting” while criticizing the film as “disjointed, dull, self-serious, disenchanted” and “not terribly entertaining or well constructed.”
What Are Conservative Critics Saying About “The Odyssey”?
Musk has railed against “The Odyssey” for months, making dozens of posts to his more than 240 million X followers. Musk has accused Nolan of losing his “integrity” and of “desecrating Homer,” and in May, he responded “True” to a post that accused the movie of advancing a left-wing plan to “destroy Western Civilization and everything that helped create it.” Musk accused Nolan of hiring a diverse cast to pander to the Oscars in hopes of winning awards, and some of his posts were riddled with misinformation about diversity standards required to be met for Academy Awards consideration. Conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly, in an appearance on Australia’s Sky News, accused Hollywood of hating white people and also accused Nolan of hiring a diverse cast to win awards. Kelly also claimed Helen of Troy was “written as a white person,” though classicists have disputed this as she is a mythological character, and the ancient Greeks did not have the same concept of race. Benny Johnson, a conservative podcast host, said Nolan “obviously hijacked this story to push Woke activism” and warned him to “wait until the audience score hits”—though the movie has a near-perfect 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes less than a week after release.
Which Conservatives Have Defended “The Odyssey”?
In his review, Shapiro praised “The Odyssey” as creative, interesting and “visually incredible,” calling Nolan the “best director working today without a doubt.” Shapiro also called out conservatives who have said the movie will “bomb”—a claim Johnson made days ago—saying, “No, the movie’s not going to bomb,” suggesting people want to be entertained more than they care about political debates over casting. “If conservatives want to be effective in the culture, you can’t just label the entire piece of art ‘bad’ because a decision in the art is bad,” Shapiro said, referring to Page’s casting. Dave Rubin, a conservative podcaster who has 1.6 million X followers, said the film is an “absolute masterpiece” in a post on X. Lara Trump, daughter-in-law to President Donald Trump and a Fox News host, also praised the movie during a “Fox & Friends” segment, saying, “I love to see things on the big screen that make you want to go to the movie theater.” Her co-host, Griff Jenkins, said the movie is a “visual masterpiece” at the “very minimum.”
How Has Nolan Responded To Critics?
In an interview days before “The Odyssey” opened in theaters, Nolan called the chorus of critics “irrelevant” because at the time, nobody criticizing his casting choices had actually seen the movie. Nolan said he has faced casting backlash throughout his career, including when he directed a trio of “Batman” movies, noting the character is decades old and “a lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents.” Nyong’o also responded to critics in May, defending “The Odyssey” as a “mythological story” whose cast is “representative of the world.” “I’m very supportive of Chris’s intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling,” Nyong’o said, adding she is aware that “criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.”
tangent
Political commentators aside, audiences and critics have raved about the movie. “The Odyssey” has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes—the highest rated film of Nolan’s career. On Letterboxd, a social media platform for film fans, “The Odyssey” became the fastest movie to be marked “watched” by one million users, reaching the milestone six days after release. The movie has an average rating of 4.4 stars out of a possible five on Letterboxd, making it the No. 115 highest-rated movie on the platform. In its opening weekend, “The Odyssey” trounced expectations by making $124.5 million at domestic theaters and $264.1 million worldwide, already outgrossing its reported $250 million budget. The film had already smashed ticketing records before release, and to accommodate for the high demand, some theaters are offering screenings at 3 a.m. or other unconventional times.
further reading
Critics Rave About ‘The Odyssey’—And Slam Elon Musk’s Anti-Woke Campaign (Forbes)
Musk Boosts Misinformation About ‘The Odyssey’ In Days-Long Crusade Against Christopher Nolan Movie (Forbes)