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We’re still months away from the release of filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s highly anticipated film adaptation of “The Odyssey,” already the movie is stirring up trouble. The film is expected to be one of the biggest of the year, but one casting choice has Tesla CEO Elon Musk ready to boycott.
The star-studded cast of “The Odyssey” includes icons like Zendaya, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson and Anne Hathaway. Another Oscar-winning actress is rumored to join the cast to play Helen of Troy, the mythical figure whose beauty famously started the Trojan War.
A social media post announced Lupita Nyong’o will play the Trojan beauty. Her appearance hasn’t been confirmed, but already former DOGE head Musk has plenty to say about a dark-skinned woman potentially playing the world’s most beautiful woman.
He took to X saying, “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.” He continued, “Casting choices that make the premise incoherent are admissions that the story was never the point and an insult to the author.”
@elonmusk later said, “Chris Nolan has lost his integrity.” With Musk getting be clear about one thing: Helen of Troy is not a real person. She’s described as “blonde” in the original Greek epic poem, but like most fictional character, Helen of Troy has been played by non-Greek women before, notably Eartha Kitt in 1950.
The Greek poet Homer wrote “The Odyssey” around 700 BCE. Nolan’s film tells the story of Odysseus’s 10-year journey to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Helen of Troy, the daughter of Zeus and wife of Spartan King Tyndareus, was kidnapped by Trojan Prince Paris. It’s this action that triggered the Trojan War.
Helen is known as the most beautiful woman in the world and the “face which launched 1,000 ships–” starting the Trojan War. The myth of Helen has carried on for generations, and folks online argued there’s no better person to play her than Nyong’o.
“Helen of Troy is a mythological figure. She can be played by anyone. Her race is unimportant to the narrative,” @NewbyRichard3 tweeted. “Lupita Nyong’o hasn’t even been confirmed for the role but she’s one of our most beautiful actresses. Don’t be a stupid, racist grifter.”
@itznotjay said, “Helen of Troy is as real as Clifford the big red dog please shut the fck up.”
“Its hilarious that I’m finding out that Helen Of Troy was a daughter of Zeus because people are losing their minds over the skin colour of the Oscar winning + globally recognised beautiful actress playing her,” @N8vaWalkAlone wrote.
Filmmaker Nolan told Empire Magazine he “shot over 2 million feet of film” during “The Odyssey.” The movie took 91 days to film, Variety reported. It’s set to premiere this July.
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