Director Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, The Odyssey, is facing a major backlash after his Helen of Troy star, Lupita Nyong’o, attacked the classical Greek poet Homer as a “sexist” during a press junket.
Nolan sparked controversy in the first place by casting the African actress as Helen of Troy in the famous Greek mythological tale, but Nyong’o has made matters worse with her comments after news broke of Nolan’s decision to feature Nyong’o as “The most beautiful woman in the world.”
Indeed, in one of her first interviews, Nyong’o admitted that despite being a graduate of Yale University, she had never even heard of The Odyssey before Nolan cast her in his film.
“I really had no idea what The Odyssey was,” she told Elle Magazine in May. “I was like, ‘Oh, snap, I don’t know the first thing about this.’ So it was a crash course. I picked up the books and read them immediately. I have this film to thank for my Greek mythological education.”
But her comments got worse when in a video of a press junket, Nyong’o was seen calling the author of the nearly 3,000-year-old tale a “sexist” for not featuring as many female characters in his poems and stories as she would like.
The backlash to her latest woke attack on one of the most famous Greek literary tales in history was swift.
One commenter noted that when Nyong’o said “Very little time in The Odyssey is spent in the perspective of a woman,” it was clear she didn’t know the story because the whole thing is written with the goddess Athena at its core.
“O illiterate founder of Greece, the goddess Athena (a female) drives the entire story from start to finish. Her fingerprints are on every page,” he wrote, adding, “The entire point of the story is that mortals, in spite of all their pride and greed, are the playthings of the gods and therefore must be humble and behave honorably or they will be punished. The male god Poseidon is the antagonist, and the hero is Athena, who repeatedly leads the otherwise helpless characters to resolution and peace.”
One person pointed out that the character of Penelope is a central figure in the epic tale and that when he is in Hades, Odysseus himself reviews heroic tales featuring Greek women.
Another social media user wondered why so many Hollywood actresses are working so hard to tank their own movies these days.
Many others agreed that Nyong’o is working overtime to destroy Nolan’s film before it even has its first showing.
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