{"id":685007,"date":"2026-05-21T22:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685007\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:01:09","slug":"lupita-nyongo-responds-to-the-odyssey-helen-of-troy-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/685007\/","title":{"rendered":"Lupita Nyong\u2019o Responds to The Odyssey Helen of Troy Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not,\u201d actress Lupita Nyong\u2019o has said in response to the vitriolic and often racist backlash she\u2019s received from Elon Musk and some corners of social media over her casting as Helen of Troy<\/a> in director Christopher Nolan<\/a>\u2019s The Odyssey<\/a>. (It was recently revealed that Nyong\u2019o also plays Helen\u2019s sister Clytemnestra<\/a> in the epic.)<\/p>\n

Homer\u2019s epics The Iliad and The Odyssey depict Helen as the most beautiful woman in the world whose face launched a thousand ships and sparked the Trojan War. But as Nyong\u2019o told Elle Magazine<\/a> (via THR<\/a>), \u201cYou can\u2019t perform beauty.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to know who a character is. What is beyond beauty? What is beyond looks? That\u2019s the thing about doing such a well-known text, which has been studied and interpreted and derived from. The research could be endless. The good thing about working with a writer like Chris is that it\u2019s on the page. The investigation starts with the pages you\u2019re given. That\u2019s what I based it on.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I was so deeply honored to be entrusted with the role. I mean, she is iconic. What more can I say?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lupita<\/a>Lupita Nyong’o in Black Panther.<\/p>\n

The Oscar winner, who wants people to remember that The Odyssey \u201cis a mythological story,\u201d said Nolan\u2019s film is made for global audiences so its diverse ensemble cast<\/a> reflects that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very supportive of Chris\u2019s intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling. Our cast is representative of the world. I\u2019m not spending my time thinking of a defense. The criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not,\u201d said Nyong\u2019o. <\/p>\n

The Odyssey Cast and Characters: Who’s Who in the Christopher Nolan Film\"Matt<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite something to be a part of The Odyssey, because it is so grand. It spans worlds. So that\u2019s why the cast is what it is. We\u2019re occupying the epic narrative of our time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nolan, who has previously defended his film from complaints of historical inaccuracies<\/a>, told Elle that he cast Nyong\u2019o as Helen of Troy because she possessed the same \u201c(the) strength and the poise\u201d as the character. <\/p>\n

\u201cLupita makes it look effortless. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s a tremendous amount of discipline and training that goes into projecting that kind of poise and feeling the emotion bubbling beneath the character, the layers of the character right there underneath,\u201d said Nolan. \u201cShe\u2019s just an incredible person to work with, and I was absolutely desperate for her to do the part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Nyong\u2019o won\u2019t allow criticism in general to affect her: \u201cI can\u2019t spend my time thinking about all the people who still don\u2019t love me. You\u2019ll find the representatives who believe in you, and you\u2019ll get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odyssey opens in theaters July 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe criticism will exist whether I engage with it or not,\u201d actress Lupita Nyong\u2019o has said in response…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75],"class_list":["post-685007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}