Political pundit Ben Shapiro is pushing back against fellow conservatives for prejudging Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster version of The Odyssey — saying it’s a spectacular success despite some casting controversies.
In an 18-minute video review posted on YouTube, Shapiro gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to The Odyssey, saying it ranks “between an eight-and-a-half and a nine” on a scale of 1 to 10.
“It’s really, really, really good,” he said after watching an Imax screening. “It’s a terrific movie.”
Shapiro countered right-wing criticism of casting Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o, who is Black, as Helen of Troy, saying, “I know a lot of people were like, ‘Oh my God, Lupita Nyong’o is supposed to look like Diane Kruger.'”
“I don’t know. Diane Kruger doesn’t look very Greek. She’s German,” he said.
Shapiro also called Nyong’o a “beautiful woman” before adding, “But here’s the thing: actually, in the script, Nolan goes out of his way to explain that the war wasn’t really launched over Helen being gorgeous.”
In May, commentator Matt Walsh, who works for Shapiro’s Daily Wire website, claimed Nyong’o’s casting was the product of political correctness.
“Not one person on the planet actually thinks that Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world.’ But Christopher Nolan knows that he would be called racist if he gave ‘the most beautiful woman’ role to a white woman,” Walsh said on social media at the time.
Billionaire Elon Musk endorsed that assertion, reposting Walsh’s comments and adding, “True.”
In his review, Shapiro sided with critics who attacked the casting of trans actor Elliot Page as the Greek warrior Sinon, with Shapiro calling it an “absolute puzzler” that “doesn’t work,” according to Mediaite.
Shapiro also said that “there’s a message here for conservatives.”
“I know there are a lot of conservatives who are getting pre-whipped up about the film, because it is stupid to cast Elliot Page as a dude. It’s just stupid,” he said. “But people on the right were saying, ‘Oh, it’s gonna bomb because of that.’ No, the movie’s not going to bomb because of that.”
On Sunday morning, Deadline reported that The Odyssey was on track to sell $257.8 million worth of tickets worldwide by the end of the weekend, which would mark the biggest such haul for an action movie this year.
