IN BRIEF
- Christopher Nolan has faced criticism for some of his casting decisions, including the exclusion of actors with Greek ancestry.
- The Odyssey has been an instant success since its release earlier this month, grossing over $375 million worldwide.
Christopher Nolan has brought one of the oldest surviving works of literature to the silver screen. But there's something missing in his blockbuster adaptation of The Odyssey — Greeks.
The director's revitalisation of the ancient Greek epic poem has no leading cast member of Greek ancestry. It's a choice that's drawn extensive criticism, particularly from Greek audiences.
"I'm not arguing that every character needed to be played by a Greek actor, and I'm not objecting to its diverse casting," one social media user said.
"I'm saying that in this enormous international cast, it would have been wonderful to see one Greek actor, maybe an unknown actor in a breakout role," said another.
"I'm gonna go see this movie, and I'm gonna try my best to enjoy it," another said.
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"But I know that the whole time there's gonna be my Greek side and my American side watching at the same time and it's gonna be real tough to keep the Greek side quiet."
A third questioned whether "a single other culture" would be comfortable with a portrayal that lacks "a single actor, cultural adviser, academic, or director involved from that culture".
The issue of casting
The film has made headlines for its star-studded cast, with US actor Matt Damon leading as Odysseus — Trojan War veteran and king of Ithaca.
The film follows Odysseus' role in the Trojan War and his decade-long journey home, where he reunites with his wife, Penelope, played by Anne Hathaway, and son Telemachus, played by Tom Holland.
Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o, Travis Scott, Elliot Page, Zendaya, John Leguizamo and Benny Safdie are among those cast in the feature.
Discourse has surrounded the casting since it was announced in 2024. Some have praised Nolan's racially diverse cast, while others have questioned his intentions.
Vrasidas Karalis, professor of modern Greek and Byzantine studies at the University of Sydney, said the original epic — widely attributed to ancient Greek poet Homer — was created at a time when the Mediterranean was multicultural, so the expectation that the cast would be exclusively Greek isn't true to the text.
"The story itself is so complex and involves so many different people. During the wanderings of Odysseus, he meets all these different people, the lotus-eaters, the cyclops, the cannibals, all of these different sorts of tribes around the Mediterranean back then," he said.
"Asking to have Greeks there is a bit of a long shot, I would say. It's very multinational, multicultural and multi-religious."
He said the criticism from the Greek community is "parochial" and shows "a social and moral panic".
One of the film's most high-profile critics is classical studies expert Emily Wilson, who in 2017 became the first woman to translate The Odyssey from Homeric Greek and publish a complete English translation.
In her review of the film, Wilson said there was "nothing progressive" about Nolan's "race-neutral casting".
"Most of the non-white actors — Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Himesh Patel, Corey Antonio Hawkins, Travis Scott — play versions of the Black best friend, whose only role in the drama is to provide aid to the white protagonist," she wrote.
She also noted that while there were more female characters than in "most Nolan movies", that was "thanks to the source material".
"But none of them has much to say, in contrast to the characterisations in the poem."
What makes a 'good' adaptation?
In her review, Wilson acknowledges that the "Homeric epic was already an adaptation".
The Odyssey was not originally a written text. It was a poem shared through song by travelling poets or rhapsodes, existing for half a century before taking form on the page. Academics confirm The Odyssey read and watched today could be a far cry from the original.
Vassilios Vertoudakis, professor of ancient Greek philology at the University of Athens, said there have long been debates on how historical figures are depicted in modern film or television.
"Greek mythology is open to interpretation. Even Greeks, ancient Greeks I mean, were open to re-interpret their heritage, their past, their myths," they said.
"The re-interpretation, the re-imagination, keeps vital this heritage over time.
"Otherwise, Greek mythology would be a mummy, a museum exhibit.”
Nolan responded to criticism during the press tour in India, saying that all stories are open to interpretation.
"Any time you take on a piece of literature that's known and beloved by so many people, and this is a story that's fascinated generation after generation for 3,000 years, a lot of different people have a lot of different ideas of what it's going to be like," he said.
He said his approach is to make the "best film you can".
"I think people who love the piece of literature, in this case The Odyssey, hopefully they enjoy the respect that we're showing to the original source by making as good a film as we know how to make."
A story for the ages
Regardless of public opinion, the film is a hit — making US$264 million ($375 million) in its opening weekend.
It's grossed US$727.9 million (just over $1 billion) worldwide in the first two weeks, with more than one-fifth coming from IMAX screens alone.
It's a personal success for Nolan, making more in its first two weeks than his last film Oppenheimer did in 600 days.
Karalis believes its mammoth success can be attributed to its relevance to humanity.
"The story itself is extremely appealing to everyone to this day because we see life as a journey full of adventures, full of problems, full of reversals, of going back and losing what we have achieved. This is part of the continuous appeal of this story because the Odyssey is part of our everyday life," he said.
He said the story's most resonant theme is 'nostos' — homecoming.
"These ancient societies, they had to go on expeditions, they had to go for food hunting ... they had to leave their home ... leave their ancestral places and move around the world, sometimes in a very hostile environment.
"Coming back home is a reconciliation with the past. It was a rehabilitation of their humanity."
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