Hollywood's critical fraternity has showered praise on 's The Odyssey after the movie premiered in London on Monday.
Showbiz
Odyssey Faces Backlash Over Woke Casting Choices
Hollywood's critical fraternity has showered praise on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey after the movie premiered in London on Monday.Fan backlash has been gathe...
over the hiring of black performers , and in an adaptation of a Greek epic.
Inasmuch as Scott is a rapper who had never held a major acting role before, his enlistment to play the bard was also criticized as a piece of stunt casting.
Trans actor has drawn brickbats as well, on account of his inclusion in the picture as an ill-fated young member of Odysseus' crew called Elpenor.
After months of mounting online fury, however, the professional critics rendered a resoundingly positive verdict on X ahead of the lifting of the official review embargo.
'Christopher Nolan's #TheOdyssey is an absolute triumph and a crowning cinematic achievement from one of the great filmmakers of our time,' raved author Erik Davis.
The Daily Mail has contacted Nolan's representative for comment.
Hollywood's critical fraternity has showered praise on Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey after the movie premiered in London on Monday; Damon is pictured
Advertisement
Nolan's movie of The Odyssey has been hotly anticipated for years, with an all-star cast .
Tom Holland features
Trans actor Elliot Page, pictured at the film's London premiere on Monday, has drawn brickbats over his inclusion in the picture as an ill-fated member of Odysseus' crew called Elpenor
Nolan has strenuously defended his decision to hire Travis Scott, which was criticized as a piece of stunt casting; Scott pictured at the film's London premiere
Helen is the ravishing daughter of Zeus whose 'face launched a thousand ships,' in that her seduction by Troy's prince Paris resulted in the Trojan War.
Nyong'o, who won an Oscar for the 2013 historical drama 12 Years a Slave, will also feature in the film as Helen's sister Clytemnestra.
Advertisement
Her hiring provoked a fierce response on X, including from conservative pundit Matt Walsh, who fumed that nobody 'on the planet' regards Nyong'o as the world's greatest beauty but that Nolan 'knows that he would be called racist if he gave "the most beautiful woman" role to a white woman.'
Musk, who owns the social media platform, responded to Walsh by writing: 'True,' eliciting pushback by outspoken liberals like and Jimmy Kimmel.
Nyong'o faced another round of blowback this week over her response to a question about what she would ask Homer if she met him today.
'So, Homer, how do you feel about the screen time given to these women considering how little you spent with them? Remember us?' she said on Jake's Takes.
Social media users poured scorn on Nyong'o, joking that her reply was 'straight out of idiocracy' and that she 'thinks it's still 2016 and everyone is going to stand up, clap and yell, "YAAAASSSSS QUEEN."'
Nyong'o recently confessed she 'really had no idea what The Odyssey was' when she was first approached for the project, in an interview with Elle.
Advertisement
Nyong'o, pictured at last year's Academy Museum Gala, faced another round of blowback this week over her response to question about what she would ask Homer if she met him today
'I was like: "Oh, snap, I don’t know the first thing about this." So it was a crash course. I picked up the books and read them immediately. I have this film to thank for my Greek mythological education,' acknowledged the Kenyan-Mexican actress.
Meanwhile Elliot Page - who rocketed to fame as Ellen Page with an Oscar-nominated turn in the 2007 film Juno - was heaped with opprobrium after becoming the subject of false rumors he would be playing the legendary warrior Achilles in The Odyssey.
When the speculation began circulating, Musk slated the potential hiring choice as 'one of the dumbest and twisted things I’ve ever heard.'
It later emerged that Page would in fact be playing Elpenor, a young member of Odysseus' crew who dies by accidentally falling from a roof drunk, and whom Odysseus later encounters in the underworld.
After news broke of Page's actual role, Musk reposted a tweet that read: 'I'm not mocking her masculinity. I'm denying its existence.'
In May, Nolan gave an interview explaining the creative impetus for his hiring of Travis Scott, a world-famous rapper who was nevertheless untested as an actor.
'I cast him,' Nolan explained to Time: 'because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap.'
Advertisement