Last year, when I learned that Christopher Nolan was adapting Homer’s epic The Odyssey into a film, I got giddy. It’s one of the greatest stories ever told, yet it has never been adapted properly. The 1954 Kirk Douglas film Ulysses was forgettable, and the 1997 TV miniseries starring Armand Assante was plastic.Nolan’s adaptation promised something grander. This was the filmmaker behind the Batman trilogy, Inception, and Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon reportedly cast in the leading role.Unfortunately, the movie is already drawing criticism over both real and imagined casting decisions. (Rumors that Elliot Page would play Achilles are untrue.)
The controversy began after reports confirmed that Helen of Troy — the woman whose beauty sparked a war between Greece and Troy in The Iliad — would be played by Lupita Nyong’o, who is of Kenyan descent.
Critics responded from several directions. Some argued Nyong’o was not sufficiently beautiful for the role. Others claimed Nolan was placating Hollywood’s “woke” diversity regime.
“Not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world,’” Matt Walsh said. “But Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave ‘the most beautiful woman’ role to a white woman.”
