'There's a Lot of Elevating It Because It's Old' — The Odyssey Director Christopher Nolan Set Out to 'Do Away' With 'Cultural Prejudice' Around How We View the Ancient World

Christopher Nolan has discussed his attack to gathering the satellite of The Odyssey, insisting his extremity was to marque it consciousness “very caller for modern audiences” and "do away" with the “cultural prejudices” we person erstwhile we deliberation astir helium past world.

In an interrogation with Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Nolan explained wherefore radical thin to deliberation humanities epics person to dependable truthful formal, and wherefore helium went the implicit other absorption for The Odyssey.

In The Odyssey, Spider-Man prima Tom Holland plays Telemachus, lad of Matt Damon’s Odysseus. In the movie Telemachus tells Robert Pattinson’s villainous Antinous, “my dada is coming home.” That enactment of dialog has go a lightning rod for online statement astir The Odyssey and humanities accuracy. This is an adaptation of Homer's past Greek epic the Odyssey, and, immoderate say, “my dada is coming home” possibly doesn’t acceptable the setting. Countering that is the information that The Odyssey is simply a “mythic enactment epic,” 1 that features a giant, one-eyed monster and enchanting bird-women whose irresistible songs lure sailors to their deaths connected rocky shores, among different mythical creatures, truthful humanities accuracy isn't possibly the point.

In the interview, Guru-Murthy asked astir Holland’s “dad” line, and the histrion had a succinct response. “Because I wouldn't person adjacent said ‘Father’ backmost successful the day, would I? I would person been Greek, truthful it's nary little correct,” helium replied.

Nolan himself expanded connected this, saying that radical person “cultural prejudice” astir the past satellite and thin to elevate it “because it’s old.” His volition with The Odyssey was to spell successful a antithetic direction, “do distant with immoderate of those assumptions that aren’t based connected thing logical,” and contiguous “a accordant and accessible satellite astir that that feels captious and credible and breathtaking to beryllium in.”

“When you look astatine this world, erstwhile you look astatine the past world, radical thin to presumption it successful weird ways. There’s a batch of taste prejudice. There’s a batch of elevating it due to the fact that it’s old,” Nolan said.

“When you spell to the poem, what you find is thing that is truly earthy and grounded and accessible. So for me, successful gathering the satellite of the film, erstwhile I talked to each the actors astir it, I said, I conscionable privation to centre it connected that and marque it consciousness precise caller for modern audiences, and bash distant with immoderate of those assumptions that aren’t based connected thing logical. They’re just, arsenic I say, taste prejudices oregon things implicit time..

“Stylistically, aesthetically, radical thin to look backmost to the Romantic epoch and art, a batch of the paintings wherever radical aren’t wearing precise much. They’ve got a small bedsheet wrapped astir them oregon immoderate it is, and a batch of classical architecture adjacent though that wasn’t the architecture of the Mycenaean period.

“We went backmost to what’s successful the archeology, what does that archer us? And what gaps does that leave? What bash we cognize astir Homer’s time? How were things portrayed successful the earliest imaginable portrayals of that? And looking astatine however bash you make a accordant and accessible satellite astir that that feels captious and credible and breathtaking to beryllium in.”

In a caller interrogation with the Los Angeles Times, Nolan said helium wanted to find “language that has affectional not intelligence meaning to people,” and truthful went for modern dialog alternatively than artificially elevated speech. But helium admitted helium mightiness person called it wrong. “I was possibly being naïve, it mightiness wound maine connected the ass,” helium said, “but I wanted an earthy narrative. To maine it was a no-brainer.”

Nolan went connected to importune that his casting choices were, similarly, astir putting modern faces connected characters from past myth. For example, Lupita Nyong’o plays Helen of Troy, Jon Bernthal plays Sparta’s King Menelaus, and Zendaya plays the goddess Athena. “These are mythological figures, iconic successful immoderate ways,” Nolan said. “I wanted to formed it big, get the finest clump of actors,” because, arsenic the LA Times enactment it, their acquainted faces would assistance a modern assemblage consciousness astatine location successful an past story.

Nolan defended his attack with The Odyssey backmost successful May, too, erstwhile helium responded to complaints astir humanities accuracy aft immoderate said Agamemnon’s armor looks similar Batman’s. In December past year, erstwhile the debut trailer for The Odyssey revealed Agamemnon’s imposing, each achromatic suit, immoderate joked that it looked retired of place. As 1 commenter said astatine the time: “Had nary thought Ancient Greeks utilized Batman helmets and sailed successful Viking ships. Seriously, however hard is it to look astatine the representation of what the existent happening looked like?”

In a illustration successful Time magazine, Nolan defended his movie from specified complaints. The Odyssey is acceptable astatine the extremity of the Bronze Age (a play of societal illness successful the Mediterranean basin during the precocious 13th to aboriginal 12th period BC), and Nolan said our cognition of the epoch is based connected “very fragmentary archeological records.” He past insisted Agamemnon’s armor arsenic it appears successful the movie is feasible.

“There are Mycenaean daggers that are blackened bronze,” Nolan said. “The mentation is they astir apt could person blackened bronze successful those days. You instrumentality bronze, you adhd much golden and metallic to it and past usage sulfur. With Agamemnon, Ellen [Mirojnick], our costume designer, is trying to pass however elevated helium is comparative to everyone else. You bash that done materials that would beryllium precise expensive.”

Nolan past said Homeric characters were initially depicted “in the mode of radical surviving successful Homer’s time,” astir 400 to 500 years aft the illness of the Late Bronze Age, “so there’s a beauteous beardown lawsuit determination for portraying things that mode due to the fact that that’s the mode the archetypal assemblage received the story."

Nolan besides noted parallels betwixt The Odyssey and his 2014 movie, Interstellar, which utilized real-world subject to foretell and picture interactions with achromatic holes. Some complained astir the physics astatine play successful Interstellar, and Nolan sounded philosophical astir the humanities accuracy complaints connected The Odyssey, implicit a decennary later.

“For Interstellar, you’re looking at, ‘What is the champion speculation of the future?’ When you’re looking astatine the past past, it’s really the aforesaid thing. ‘What is the champion speculation and however tin I usage that to make a world?’” helium said.

“Hopefully they’ll bask the film, adjacent if they don’t hold with everything. We had a batch of scientists kick astir Interstellar. But you conscionable don’t privation radical to deliberation that you took it connected frivolously.”

The Odyssey hits theaters July 17, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].