Elon Musk Criticizes Christopher Nolan Over The Odyssey Casting Choices

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, one of the most anticipated release of 2026, is 165 days away from hitting the silver screens. And in the way, the writer, director has always received praises but also got some harsh remarks over his directorial choices that’s been revealed through it’s promotional material and behind the scene set photo leaks.

Recently, tech Mogul Elon musk has also weighed in on this discussion through his X account, where he vented his disapproval by commenting on the post of a user who 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” felt a user on X and Musk echoed with it, saying: “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity”.

Both the users statements are aimed at the director’s speculated choice of casting Lupita Nyong’o, a black actress who has given amazing performances, and won Academy Award for films -- 12 Years A Slave and many others like the Black Panther series. Now, she is likely to step into the shoes of Helen of Troy in his vision of the adaptation.

Musk's statement is considered as a racist remark, and he is not new to be pointed out in such situations as he’s regularly made them in the past. Other users have also supported this post, with some terming it as “woke” and “cultural appropriation.”, while some others contradicted by saying that 'The Odyssey' is a myth and that there are no proofs from history that a person named “Helen of Troy” actually existed. If Nyong’o is confirmed to play Helen of Troy, she will not become the first black actress to play that role as Eartha Kitt became the first black actress to play this role in Orson Welle’s adaptation of this play in the year 1950.

The film had received some criticism in the earlier year on the historical inaccuracies of the costumes, with some historians and critics taking objection to the gladiator-style leather armor rather than the actual Bronze Age dendra style armor which the lead actor Matt Damon wears, revealed in the first looks and teasers of the film. It also became controversial during it’s production, where they shot the film at a city called Dakhla, which is located in the Western Sahara desert, considered as a “no journalist zone”.

The Odyssey is about to break many records, and it already became the first film to be entirely shot using the newer gen 15/70 mm IMAX cameras. It is also the first ever movie to even open its bookings and getting sold out instantly before a year of release date. It stars a staggering A list cast including Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, and others.

The article was written by Yoga Adithya, an intern at Deccan Chronicle, Secunderabad.