Christopher Nolan Finally Lost Me

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]We've had these rumors out there who's going to play Helen of Troy. Now there are rumors on who's playing Achilles.

[00:00:05]And it feels like Aaron, every time we get something confirmed, it kind of kills my interest in actually seeing the Odyssey more and more. Even though I think Christopher Nolan is probably the best director in Hollywood today.

[00:00:17]>> He is the best director in Hollywood today, I would say. But yeah, this this Odyssey movie is not uh it's not not doing it for me.

[00:00:24]>> Christopher Nolan confirmed Lepita Nyongo will play a dual role in the Odyssey. Nyongo portrays Helen of Troy.

[00:00:31]This confirms over a year of rumors regarding the casting of the actress in a role as it represents a fundamental departure from the physical descriptions provided in the original home text and Greek mythological tradition. Nolan addressed the creative direction of the film, noting that his interpretation prioritizes a mythic and immersionbased approach over strict historical accuracy. You know, as great as Lupita Nyongo is, and obviously Lupita won an Academy Award and, you know, was acclaimed as an actress, doesn't really fit into the Greek traditions just as far as the look of the character or the person.

[00:01:06]>> The Greeks are losing Helena Troy. The Egyptians lost Cleopatra.

[00:01:10]>> Yeah, it does seem to be a pervasive problem within Hollywood and they kind of keep doing this over and over again and every time they get called out, you know, they might lose a little bit of money, but they won't stop doing it. I assume that there must be something bigger behind this than just maybe a political statement.

[00:01:25]>> Well, Christopher Nolan has so many rabid fans. I I think that they think that he's bulletproof and maybe he thinks that he's bulletproof so he thinks he's going to be able to do this.

[00:01:34]Like, you know, everybody's had this idea in Hollywood and it keeps failing.

[00:01:38]It's like, you know, and now Chris Roland comes along and he's like, I've got a different idea. You know, he may be bulletproof. you may find out that it's uh you know coming from him it is a different idea and it doesn't affect uh the box office that much but it's certainly going to affect my box office dollar.

[00:01:51]>> It kind of goes against what Christopher Nolan has been about in the past. what he did Dunkirk, he was given a lot of crap for not having enough diversity, you know, in the British army, you know, in that story. And he was like, "Hey, listen.

[00:02:05]The British army was white. All the people there were white. There's nothing I can do about that. I want to show you what it was like to be at Dunkerk." And it appears now that he's going over to Greek mythology and Greek, you know, epic uh, you know, poetry from from Homer, he's literally going 180 degrees against everything he stood for before.

[00:02:23]If Christopher Nolan made the woman king, he wouldn't go out there and and cast a Greek actress, he would go out there and find somebody from the region that the woman king is based off of.

[00:02:34]>> I saw somebody online suggested like, "Oh, Christopher Nolan just wants to win an Oscar and these are like the Oscar rules now." Christopher Nolan has an Oscar. I don't think he's I don't think he's after an Oscar. I think that this is just this is just Hollywood now and he's been in there and he's been in that bubble and he's going to he's going to do this and and really like overall like you could say like does it matter because this is a mythological story.

[00:02:53]It's it's a you know it doesn't really require the historical accuracy and etc etc. You can make all those arguments but I feel like it's still going to it's not when you watch it it's not going to ring true to your brain. This is important. It's built on somebody's history. It's built on their culture and to go out there and portray something that is completely not a part of that is offensive. They've done it with Vikings.

[00:03:16]Now they're doing with this. They're basically doing anything. Anytime you have European history, now you have to flood everybody else into it. But if you were to do it in anybody else's history, it would not be allowed. It's weird.

[00:03:27]>> I don't know what to tell you, Wes.

[00:03:29]Welcome to George Orwell's 1984.

[00:03:32]Well, and of course, everybody has decided if you are opposed to this casting, that makes you one thing. Media outlets have responded to the Odyssey casting by framing all negative reaction as entirely racially motivated. Inverse dismissed critics by writing that the push back comes from, you know, racist, effectively labeling all criticism of the casting as bigotry. This stance is mirrored by other outlets such as feminenegra which characterized a backlash as ridiculous and argued that historical accuracy is only invoked as a shield when actors of color are cast in traditionally white roles. Collapsing concerns regarding Greek heritage and mythological fidelity into a singular narrative of anti-woke hostility. Citing public comments from figures like Elon Musk as evidence that the controversy is a coordinated right-wing political campaign. I mean, you know, they can keep saying that. That's a this thing that they always trot out. It doesn't it doesn't ring true. I mean, certainly there's there's some pe there's always some people that'll that'll be uh you know, of that mindset. You know, you see the backlash against Harry Potter, them casting a black Snape, and then they're like, "Oh, Papa is or whatever his name is. He got death threats and it's like, well, yeah, he probably did. He probably got some death death threats from some right-wing weirdos, and he probably got some from some leftwing weirdos that are like, how dare you work ON HARRY POTTER?

[00:04:48]DON'T YOU KNOW THAT JK ROWLING IS ANTI-TRANS?" YOU KNOW, IT'S LIKE it's the internet. It's it's just the way that it is. There's a bunch of crazies out there that get upset and they send you they send you hate mail, but that's not everybody. And to dismiss valid concerns like this, like, you know, hey, I don't think that's good casting because, you know, that doesn't fit the historical aspect of this. And I understand what you're doing and I understand that you're trying to be, you know, a little bit more inclusive and representative, but, you know, maybe we need to have a conversation about whether historical epics are the place for that. um you know, if if changing those things actually does matter, you know, we should be able to have those conversations, but they need to shut that down. They can't argue it on the merits. So, they have to paint everybody with a big broad brush. And we've seen it a million times. And I don't know why we're surprised that it's happening now.

[00:05:30]>> What happened when people found out that the Michael Bay Teenage Mut Ninja Turtles was going to have a white Shredder?

[00:05:37]>> Yeah, people were upset.

[00:05:39]>> Like, fuck that. You know, Shredder can't be white. He's fucking Japanese.

[00:05:42]What are you doing? So they had to go back and like reshoot the movie and change who the villain was because people looked at that and said no that's not Shredder >> and obviously they had a very similar reaction to Snape and I think you know Helen of Troy in you know Homer's Odyssey are more important than Harry Potter and Tnt to be completely honest.

[00:06:01]I remember when I saw Spawn back in the 90s or actually when they announced the casting for Spawn and uh and they cast Terry Fitzgerald as a white guy, I was like I was pissed off because I was like, "No, Terry's black. What are you doing?" You know, I want this to be like the comic. Um I want the thing the way that I know the thing. You know, I don't want you to take a bunch of departures with it. And then when I heard the reason, I was even more frustrated with it where they're like, "Well, you know, if we don't have a white guy in it'll be perceived as a black movie and then people won't go to see it." You're like, "What are you talking about? Martin Sheen is the villain. There's a white guy in there. you know, like I don't like I don't understand these Hollywood arguments and I think it's just all based upon, you know, these soft bigotry that uh that pervades the, you know, Hollywood and pervades progressives and uh you know, I'm just kind of tired of it. It's like you can talk about how people resisting this is a, you know, is oh, it's all it's all racially based, but you know, the way that you make these decisions are all racially based.

[00:06:52]And I'm not going to be talked down to or lectured by the people who only 20 or 30 years ago said, "Hey, we can't cast that way or it'll be considered a black movie." As if that was a bad thing. The truth is, negative reaction expands far beyond casting concerns, focusing on significant creative departures from Homer's Greek Epic. Critics note that the footage reveals a genre bending approach that incorporates anacronistic technology and surrealist high fashion costume design that deviates sharply from traditional Bronze Age dress.

[00:07:23]Viewers have highlighted the inclusion of modern-day or even futuristic machinery within the ancient Greek setting alongside a heavily digitized visual pallet that stands in dark contrast to Nolan's usual reliance on practical effects. Furthering the disconnect, the cast, including Matt Damon and Tom Holland, deliver lines with American accents in a style described as decidedly 21st century. The prevailing sentiment following the trailer is one of confusion over the film's intended tone and its drastic pivot away from the historical and cultural expectations associated with the foundational Greek source material.

[00:07:58]It is really weird when you watch that trailer and you hear Matt Damon speaking. You're like, "Okay, American accent." Then you hear Tom Holland speaking and he's got an American accent. You're like, "That guy's fucking British. Why are we not trying to have European accents or Greek accents, you know, for the fucking Greek myth movie?"

[00:08:14]>> Because, you know, Homer, it was uh, you know, it was written for its time and now this movie is for this time.

[00:08:19]>> Christopher Nolan said he needed to include Travis Scott's rapping within the movie because he thinks modern-day rap is like Homer's, you know, ancient epic poetry. Like it's absolutely ridiculous like the the kind of creative ideas that he's using in this film and none of them make sense.

[00:08:36]>> Cool. Like follow your muse and and do your movie I guess the way that you want to and we'll all we'll all judge it when it comes out for for what it is, you know, for what ends up on screen.

[00:08:44]>> But that's not true, Aaron. What they've done and what they've shown you, you're not going to judge it for what it is.

[00:08:49]You're not going to see it.

[00:08:51]>> No, I'm not going to see it in theaters.

[00:08:52]I'll I'll wait and I'll watch it when it uh you know, when it's on some streaming service uh or uh or it ends up Well, actually, I don't even have any streaming services except for Prime because I order a lot of stuff on Amazon. Uh but uh you know, I got to get got to get those hard to get toys. Um but uh yeah, it's like I won't watch it until it's free or it ends up on Dockbuster or you know, like I'm not uh I'm not paying to see it. And it's sad because typically I would be the target audience for going to see the Odyssey, you know? I'd be like, when you told me Christopher Nolan's going to be doing the Odyssey, I was like, hot damn, I can't wait for that. And now everything that he's said, everything that I've seen, everything that's in the media, I'm like, I can totally wait for that.

[00:09:33]In fact, I could have waited my whole life. And then he says, you know, there's not going to be any orchestra part of the soundtrack or or the sound elements of the movie, which is fine.

[00:09:42]You know, do something unique, have some fun with it. But then the reason Christopher Nola doesn't want orchestra in the soundtrack is because there were no orchestras during Homer's time. There was no IMAX cameras during Homer's time.

[00:09:56]There was no rap. There wasn't in America during that time. Nobody spoke with those accents. What the fuck are you talking about?

[00:10:04]>> I I think we just need to maybe accept the fact that Christopher Nolan has gone mad.

[00:10:10]Just uh just deal with that. I think he realizes he's looking like a dumbass and is trying to explain it away, but he's only digging himself a deeper hole.

[00:10:18]>> Yeah, because it's filled with a lot of inconsistent arguments.

[00:10:21]>> Now, rumors are circulating that Ellen Paige is portraying the legendary warrior Achilles in the Odyssey. The speculation intensified after the release of the trailer, which briefly shows Paige's character in a dark underworldlike setting, delivering a line to Matt Damon's Adessius about looking after his wife and son. The theory draws from Homer's epic in which Adess encounters the shade of Achilles during his journey to the underworld.

[00:10:46]Though Paige's specific role is not officially been announced despite confirmed involvement in the project, I saw this rumor last week and I laughed at it at first and until I realized it's real. That's probably correct.

[00:11:00]>> Well, why else would you be keeping it quiet? Why else would you not announce what Paige's role is? Why would you be keeping that quiet? Achilles is the most famed warrior basically in in human history. When Alexander the Great went out and basically took over the known world, he stopped for a week at Achilles tomb and prayed and wept there because the person was held in such high regard, you know, throughout the the histories at that point. I can't believe that they would just shit on Achilles like this.

[00:11:28]>> I mean, there's obviously no respect for the for the Odyssey for for Homer's work. So, you know, why why is this surprising to you? This is Hollywood.

[00:11:36]Hollywood shits on everything. Now granted, I I think that you know, we expected a little bit more for from Christopher Nolan, but uh you know, he's uh he's in the cabal. He's not immune to it. Everything has real >> at this point. I absolutely do. You know, and if I'm proven wrong, cool. But I'm still not seeing the movie because there's already so many things that, you know, that have been revealed about it that make me not interested. And that's fine. It's just a movie. I don't have to see it. I'm not obligated to see it. So when they come out and they go, "You're just not going to see it cuz you're racist." Fine. say that I don't care.

[00:12:06]I'm not going to see it because it doesn't interest me. It's not being presented in a way that is interesting to me as a presentation of the Odyssey.

[00:12:13]The reason that I would go to see it is because it is the Odyssey. And it is obviously not. It is a bastardization of the Odyssey, you know, or a creative license version of the Odyssey.

[00:12:21]Whichever one you want to call it is fine. Uh you call it what you want. I'll call it what I want and you can go see it and I'm not going to. You know, it's it's it's very simple. And uh again I I just want to reiterate the fact that Hollywood nobody owes you their attendance. Nobody owes you their viewing. You are putting out entertainment that you want people to spend their hard-earned money on. You need to give them what they want. And if you won't give them what they want, then we withhold our money. And you can cry about it and you can call us names, but that doesn't make us any more likely to spend any money with you in the future.

[00:12:54]And it's part of the reason that your industry is dying. It's part of the reason that people don't go out to the theaters. It's part of the reason that you have lost any cultural relevance when it comes to any of your talking heads that come out and want to tell us, you know, they want to come down like Moses from the holy mountain and tell us plebs what's what, you know, give us your ten commandments, not from God, but from, you know, whatever uh whatever being you worship, which is all of your, you know, narcissistic selves. You want to come down and you want to lecture us?

[00:13:17]No. PISS OFF. PISS OFF. WE'RE THE CUSTOMER. Suck it. We're not seeing your movie. If you would like the full Geek Fix podcast, cuz not only did Aaron and I talk about this, but we hit up all the new toy news, some Star Wars stuff, all that stuff along the way, you do need to head over to Think Crit Patreon channel memberships, the Geekfix podcast. Hope to see you there. Very basic.