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Elon Musk has hit out at Oscar winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan over his casting choices for his upcoming film The Odyssey, which is anticipated to be one of the most exciting releases of the year.
Nolan’s adaptation of the ancient Greek epic by Homer is the first narrative feature shot entiremy with IMAX cameras and features an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Mia Goth and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.
And it’s Nyong’o’s involvement that seems to have rubbed Musk up the wrong way, as it was reported on social media she has been cast as Helen of Troy.
An X user wrote: “Helen of Troy was fair skinned, blonde, and ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’ because she was so beautiful that men started a war over her. Casting choices that make the premise incoherent are admissions that the story was never the point and an insult to the author.”
Musk amplified the post with his response: “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.”
Both posts have gone viral, mainly because the racist implications of the first post are glaring, but also because Musk has singularly failed to grasp that Homer’s poem is a myth.
Case and point: According to the source material, Zeus, the thunder god who rules over the other deities, transformed himself into a swan and mated with Leda, who then produced an egg from which Helen emerged. Another account, found in the lost epic poem the Cypria, states that Helen was the daughter of Zeus and the goddess Nemesis, who did not wish to mate with Zeus and therefore changed herself into a goose to escape him. He, in turn, also changed himself into a goose and raped Nemesis, who hatched an egg from which Helen was born.
Either way, not your average conception, most would agree – something which should, one would hope, put all “historical accuracy” arguments to bed.
As one user wrote: “‘The Odyssey’ is a myth. There is no historical evidence to suggest that Helen of Troy actually existed, hence she can be beautiful in any color. Casting a beautiful black woman does NOT go against what was written in any way, shape, or form thousands of years ago. Just ask Homer.”
Still, the tweets have sparked controversy online, with many objecting to the casting while others have been coherently arguing that mythological characters can be creatively reinterpreted and have called out Musk for amplifying racist content.
It is worth noting that although Nyong’o joined the cast in November 2024, her character in The Odyssey has not yet been confirmed.
It’s also worth pointing out that Nyong’o would not be the first Black woman to portray Helen of Troy, as Eartha Kitt was cast by Orson Welles to play the role in a play performed in Paris in 1950.
The Odyssey, which follows Damon’s Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he journeys home after the Trojan War, hits theatres worldwide on 17 July.