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Some conservative commentators, led by billionaire Elon Musk, have slammed Christopher Nolan\u2019s hit \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d over his choice to hire a diverse cast to bring Homer\u2019s epic poem to the screen, but others, like Ben Shapiro and Lara Trump, are backing Nolan and praising the film.<\/p>\n
Ben Shapiro has hailed “The Odyssey” as a “masterpiece,” clashing with some conservative commentators who have criticized the film’s casting. (Photo by Tomas Cuesta\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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Shapiro, in a post<\/a> on X Tuesday, said conservative critics who have slammed \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d are \u201cmissing the Biblical forest for the woke trees,\u201d suggesting the movie has themes of \u201cBiblical morality\u201d and is a \u201clarge-scale win for civilizational values.\u201d<\/p>\n Shapiro, though, called Nolan\u2019s casting of transgender actor Elliot Page to play Sinon, cousin of Odysseus, \u201csilly and egregious,\u201d echoing a viewpoint espoused by many prominent conservative critics of the film.<\/p>\n But Shapiro said the controversy over the casting of Black actress Lupita Nyong\u2019o to play Helen of Troy is a \u201cdumbass discussion,\u201d clashing with conservative pundits who have considered her casting an affront to the Greek text.<\/p>\n Elon Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, has led the conservative crusade<\/a> against the movie, calling Nolan \u201cracist against the Greek people and their cultural heritage\u201d by casting Nyong\u2019o and Page and not Greek actors.<\/p>\n Matt Walsh, Shapiro\u2019s colleague at the Daily Wire, fired off critical tweets about the movie after watching it Monday, saying in a post<\/a> it is \u201cjust as woke as you fear, if not more so,\u201d slamming Nolan\u2019s alleged \u201cDEI casting\u201d while criticizing the film as \u201cdisjointed, dull, self-serious, disenchanted\u201d and \u201cnot terribly entertaining or well constructed.\u201d<\/p>\n In multiple<\/a> posts<\/a>, Walsh rebuffed fans who have called \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d a \u201cmasterpiece\u201d\u2014which Shapiro had called the film in a review<\/a> earlier this week. <\/p>\n What Are Conservative Critics Saying About \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d?<\/p>\n Musk has railed against \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d for months, making dozens of posts to his more than 240 million X followers. Musk has accused Nolan of losing his \u201cintegrity\u201d and of \u201cdesecrating Homer,\u201d and in May, he responded<\/a> \u201cTrue\u201d to a post that accused the movie of advancing a left-wing plan to \u201cdestroy Western Civilization and everything that helped create it.\u201d Musk accused Nolan of hiring a diverse cast to pander to the Oscars in hopes of winning awards, and some of his posts were riddled with misinformation<\/a> about diversity standards required to be met for Academy Awards consideration. Conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly, in an appearance on Australia\u2019s Sky News, accused Hollywood of hating white people and also accused Nolan of hiring a diverse cast to win awards. Kelly also claimed Helen of Troy was \u201cwritten as a white person,\u201d though classicists<\/a> have disputed<\/a> this as she is a mythological character, and the ancient Greeks did not have the same concept of race. Benny Johnson<\/a>, a conservative podcast host, said Nolan \u201cobviously hijacked this story to push Woke activism\u201d and warned him to \u201cwait until the audience score hits\u201d\u2014though the movie has a near-perfect 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> less than a week after release. <\/p>\n Which Conservatives Have Defended \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d?<\/p>\n In his review, Shapiro praised \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d as creative, interesting and \u201cvisually incredible,\u201d calling Nolan the \u201cbest director working today without a doubt.\u201d Shapiro also called out conservatives who have said the movie will \u201cbomb\u201d\u2014a claim Johnson<\/a> made days ago\u2014saying, \u201cNo, the movie\u2019s not going to bomb,\u201d suggesting people want to be entertained more than they care about political debates over casting. \u201cIf conservatives want to be effective in the culture, you can\u2019t just label the entire piece of art \u2018bad\u2019 because a decision in the art is bad,\u201d Shapiro said, referring to Page\u2019s casting. Dave Rubin, a conservative podcaster who has 1.6 million X followers, said the film is an \u201cabsolute masterpiece\u201d in a post<\/a> on X. Lara Trump<\/a>, daughter-in-law to President Donald Trump and a Fox News host, also praised the movie during a \u201cFox & Friends\u201d segment, saying, \u201cI love to see things on the big screen that make you want to go to the movie theater.\u201d Her co-host, Griff Jenkins, said the movie is a \u201cvisual masterpiece\u201d at the \u201cvery minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n How Has Nolan Responded To Critics?<\/p>\n In an interview<\/a> days before \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d opened in theaters, Nolan called the chorus of critics \u201cirrelevant\u201d because at the time, nobody criticizing his casting choices had actually seen the movie. Nolan said he has faced casting backlash throughout his career, including when he directed a trio of \u201cBatman\u201d movies, noting the character is decades old and \u201ca lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents.\u201d Nyong\u2019o also responded<\/a> to critics in May, defending \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d as a \u201cmythological story\u201d whose cast is \u201crepresentative of the world.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m very supportive of Chris\u2019s intention with it and with the version of this story that he is telling,\u201d Nyong\u2019o said, adding she is aware that \u201ccriticism will exist whether I engage with it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n tangent<\/p>\n Political commentators aside, audiences and critics have raved about the movie. \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d has a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a>\u2014the highest rated film of Nolan\u2019s career. On Letterboxd, a social media platform for film fans, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d became the fastest movie<\/a> to be marked \u201cwatched\u201d by one million users, reaching the milestone six days after release. The movie has an average rating<\/a> of 4.4 stars out of a possible five on Letterboxd, making it the No. 115 highest-rated<\/a> movie on the platform. In its opening weekend<\/a>, \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d trounced expectations by making $124.5 million at domestic theaters and $264.1 million worldwide, already outgrossing its reported $250 million budget. The film had already smashed ticketing records before release, and to accommodate for the high demand, some theaters are offering screenings<\/a> at 3 a.m. or other unconventional times. <\/p>\n further reading<\/p>\n