Greeks Vent Frustations to Christopher Nolan Over DEI Casting in 'The Odyssey'
In a modern cinema landscape where everyone’s a critic with a platform, it’s actually rather difficult to find very many actors and directors with high universal approval ratings.
(Well, perhaps apart from Bruce Campbell.)
For a time, it appeared film auteur Christopher Nolan would be able to fill that role of “universally beloved” Hollywood figure, following a string of critical and commercial successes.
Importantly, Nolan’s filmography offers a little bit of something for everyone. Comic book fans can enjoy Nolan’s gritty take on the Batman mythos. Movies like “Interstellar” and “Inception” can speak to science fiction aficionados. And history buffs can enjoy films like “Dunkirk” and “Oppenheimer.”
His latest film, an adaptation of Homer’s Greek epic “The Odyssey,” seems aimed at that last category.
Only… some of those very history buffs appear to have a problem with Nolan’s star-studded and eclectic cast, which includes all sorts of actors — save for many Greek ones.
According to The Telegraph, Greek media outlets have been sending multiple letters to Nolan outlining concerns that many Greek fans were speaking out about: The fact that there was only one Greek actor in a Greek epic (playing a nameless background character), and that Lupita Nyong’o — a black actress — was portraying Helen of Troy.
The U.K.-based outlet reported, “Greek and Greek Cypriot media platforms wrote open letters to Sir Christopher’s team and Hollywood, stating that Greek people ‘did not vanish’ and were ‘still here’ as ‘a living people whose story has never stopped being written.’”
“We are not asking for exclusion or limitation,” one of those letters said. “We are not arguing against diversity, nor against reinterpretation. Greek culture itself has always been shaped by exchange, migration, and encounter across centuries.”
“What we are asking is something simpler and more human. That, when Greek stories are retold on a global stage, Greek people are not rendered invisible within them.”
One Greek filmmaker even broached the thorny topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and noted that it would be “despicable” if Nolan had made his casting decisions to appease Academy Award DEI requirements.
And it’s not just Greek cinephiles expressing their displeasure.
According to OutKick, the big trailer reveal for “The Odyssey” was being crushed with dislikes.
(YouTube now hides dislikes, but there are third-party apps that can show you those numbers.)
Citing outside estimators, OutKick reports that there are over 542,000 dislikes on the final trailer, to just 64,000 positive likes.
The Fox News affiliate noted it was “a ratio of nearly 90% negative to positive.”
Outside of the controversy of selecting Nyong’o to portray Helen of Troy, some of the other notable casting choices have drawn mixed reviews, at best.
Nolan cast Elliot Page, a self-proclaimed transgender actor, as Sinon, who is a soldier and a key cousin of Odysseus. Indian actor Himesh Patel will portray one of Odysseus’ group members, Eurylochus.
The most divisive casting might have actually been Nolan’s choice to cast rapper Travis Scott to portray a Homeric bard.
“The Odyssey” releases on July 17, 2026.
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