Elon Musk has hit out at filmmaker Christopher Nolan, claiming the Oscar-winning director has lost “integrity” because of his casting choices.
Nolan is currently in post-production on The Odyssey, his adaptation of the ancient Greek epic by Homer.
The film will feature an all-star cast that includes Matt Damon. Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, Mia Goth and Benny Safdie.
Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, who is Black, also reportedly joined the cast. It was reported on social media she has been cast as Helen of Troy.
In response to the news, a user on Musk’s platform X 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, who has more than 233 million followers on the platform he owns, amplified the post with his response: “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.”
Several users disagreed with Musk, with one writing: “‘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.”
Another pointed out Helen of Troy’s outlandish mythological background, writing: “I want everyone to go google who Helen of Troy’s parents are, how they met, how they had sex, how Helen was born, come back, and just try to talk to me about historical accuracy with a straight face.”
The same user continued: “I’m saying if an immortal God turned himself into a Swan, raped a white or whatever woman and that woman laid an egg, and that egg hatched into Lupita, her being black would not be my first question.”
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In new footage revealed earlier this week, it emerged that rapper Travis Scott will make his acting debut in The Odyssey.
A teaser trailer shows Bernthal’s Menelaus and Holland’s Telemachus holding a meeting in a mess hall, when Scott’s bard-like character stands up and taps a staff to the ground to warn them about an imminent war.
“A war, a man, a trick to break the walls of Troy and burn it straight into the ground,” he announces.
The Odyssey, in theaters July 17, follows Damon’s Odysseus, king of Ithaca, as he journeys home after the Trojan War.
