One of my favorite classes in college was Greek mythology. So much fun, full of gorgeous imagery and incredible stories. One of my least favorite parts of the class was studying The Odyssey, the tale of Odysseus trying to return home to his wife Penelope after the Trojan War. It takes him a DECADE to get home, although to be fair, the bulk of those ten years were spent as Calypso’s lover and captive. So, arguably, he only spent three years trying to get home. Anyway, Christopher Nolan decided that The Odyssey would be his follow-up to winning the Oscar for Oppenheimer. The film will come out next July, but the first trailer dropped before Christmas.
That’s Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as their son WhatsHisFace. The rest of the cast includes Zendaya (as the goddess Athena), Robert Pattinson as Antinous (one of Penelope’s suitors), Charlize Theron as Circe, Lupita Nyong’o as… unknown for now. Mia Goth, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Cosmo Jarvis and many others are included in the cast. I’ll admit, I’m interested to see what Nolan does with the Sirens and the Cyclops. The whole thing is shot entirely on IMAX cameras as well. What do you think? I know the Greek history nerds are already mad about helmets and armor, and so be it. I’m fine with Nolan taking liberties with that kind of stuff, truly. What worries me is that Nolan doesn’t always have great instincts for casting, especially when it comes to women. Hathaway is a good choice for Penelope, but I’m worried about the other ladies.
Photos courtesy of ‘The Odyssey’/Universal/IMDB.
I’m excited for this. This is literally an epic story (maybe THE epic story) and I think Nolan can do justice to it.
This is dreadfully miscast, and Matt Damon looks like Perez Hilton now. I think it’s time for his leading man to character actor arc.
It looks really underwhelming. Trailers are meant to stoke interest. This is kinda bland and does not make me want to rush out and see it.
Thank you, between that and the Matt Damon of it all I went in excited and came out not excited.
I love these stories (although get mixed up between what happened to Odysseus and the adventures of the Argonauts) and I’d be all over a big retelling but this isn’t doing it for me.
Yeah, this seemed unexciting and kinda lodgy. Maybe the good stuff is in the movie for once? 😉 And, yep, Nolan really struggles with female characters (except for Catwoman.)
Such a slow and boring trailer- I lost interest and clicked away.
Greek mythology and history nerd here (raising hand) and I am going in with an open mind. Looking forward to it.
His style is just so dark and serious/ dreary. I never picture the Greek myths as such drudgery.
@Sun … The first official trailer that was released over the summer wasn’t dark and gloomy.
Lol, son WhatsHisFace is Telemachus. And a good chunk of the story is his coming of age. There’s so much in The Odyssey that goes beyond “a journey home” that I don’t expect Nolan to capture much of it, but I’ll watch his film to see what does with it.
Oooh. Add me to the excited nerd list. Loaned my Emily Wilson translation to a friend and now I’m going to get it back and reread it before the film drops. That said, I wonder which translation he used as his script source…
Nolan has said he was inspired by Wilson’s translation. Translations are so interesting – they reflect the culture and time during which they were made. Fagles is poetic and cinematic, but kind of mushy and PC. I like Lattimore because he sticks closer to the language and construction of the original, but today’s readers might find him too academic. I think Wilson is taking too many liberties and making it her version of the epic, but that’s OK, too – nothing wrong with looking at things a different way. A friend of mine and I meet a couple times a week to read The Odyssey in the original Homeric Greek. Greek is my first language, so I have a sense of the vocabulary, but the grammar is a beast. Still, it’s fun to take deep dive into the work.
Meeting weekly to read the epic sounds wonderful! I majored in ancient Greek & love Lattimore’s translations, though you’re right that they are academic. Lombardo is also good, faithful to the original language. I’m an Iliad girl, myself, but your comment & the trailer make me want to revisit the Odyssey.
@Lizzie Bathory – I’m with you as an Iliad girl, but diving deeply into The Odyssey is making me appreciate it a lot more. I’m loving how it presents the domestic side of the Iliad and the quest for a well-ordered world. In a way, I’m reminded of Jane Austen vs Patrick O’Brian – society and manners in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars
Thanks for all this translation perspective Eurydice! very cool.
@Eurydice – thanks so much! I will track down the Lattimore translation – I’ve done the Robert Fitzgerald translation and the Wilson – the Fitzgeralds were used for an audio version, and it was lovely to hear the story read aloud.
I suspect these people are too old to be playing the parts they’ve been cast to play.
Hard agree. Damon is such an odd choice. And I don’t love the casting of Hathaway either.
Agreed. Damon as Odysseus is such a what the hell casting choice to me. Not surprised that Hathaway is Penelope and I actually like Charlize Theron as Circe. Zendaya as Athena surprises me because in my mind, Athena is older. I’m sure she’ll do fine though. I bet Lupita is Calypso and I feel bad that she’s stuck playing Matt’s lover. I would have asked if we could swap actors. I mean Jon Bernthal is right there.
Agree on Damon-he’s a good actor but man, not really a fit for this role (too recognizable, too American)
The entire cast of “The Last Kingdom” on Netflix was superb casting–I’d rather see a group like that-
Matt Damon is so not doing it for me. I agree I remember Armand Assante on TV version and was so good. I would be all over this had someone like Tom Hardy been cast. Damon is as exciting as dishwater. Trailer is not enticing me at all. Even though I love these kinds of movies. Bummer.
Damon is one of the reasons this looks way more dull than it should be. A good actor, but he’s not one to bring the kind of heroic sizzle that fires up sagas like this.
Isn’t Matt Damon producing or something? I think he’s got a lot more to do with the film than his role and probably that’s why he has the role. Not really a fan of his but occasionally when he goes against type, he manages to do a good job. Other times, yuck, he’s just embarrassing. Hopefully this one will surprise us in a good way.
Totally agree. Damon is far too old to play Odysseus. I agree that he’s not the actor to cast for the “rizz”. I find him quite bland, like vanilla ice milk. The only movie I ever enjoyed him in was The Martian.
Odysseus’s armour looks like a Batman costume, LOL.
Great prestige casting (except Damon).
Idk I feel like this is going to be Nolan’s Megalopolis.
I’ll stick with the Armand Assante version. Matt Damon seems all wrong for it.
Oooh I remember the Assante Odysseus. He was absolutely delicious—Matt Damon who?
Back when networks did huge, ambitious miniseries. Sigh. I miss that.
I love the helmets. Not a feel good movie.
The IMAX tickets sold out within an hour of release last July 2025!
I can’t say i recall much, as the parts i read of it were in Latin way, way back in my school years.
And those stories are amazing.
My first reaction to the trailer is – oh, i see we’re still in that “super realistic” style of filming in the dark so the audience can’t actually see what is happening.
And Matt Damon just strikes me as the kind of white liberal that are the reason black people can’t trust white liberals, so i find him irritating.
But mythology- even the bad stuff is great, and deeply weird.
I’ll give this movie a shot.
Latin? The Odyssea? *scratches head*
For reinterpretation of the classic into the popular media of the day, for me, Tennyson will always get first billing. (English major here, obvs.)
.
“It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags …”
.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45392/ulysses
I do love some Tennyson, I asked for an anthology a few christmases back and read them out loud to myself (and the cat) from time to time.
I loved Greek mythology growing up but now, as a cranky middle aged woman, I’m tired of media that centers men. That’s why I’m now obsessed with all of the feminist retellings of the Greek myths. Circe is an obvious gem in that category, but there are so many good ones – the Women of Troy series, all of Natalie Haynes books, and others. So I don’t know if I’m interested in going back to the odyssey, especially given how poorly Nolan treats women in his movies.
I was delighted to discover Nathalie Haynes a few years back and have re-read Pandoras Jar a few times now. I’m halfway through Stone Blind but I had to give up on the Troy one, too bleak (not exactly a surprise but still).
Yea. A lot of these stories have a lot of hard stuff – it was not good to be a woman at that time. Clytemnestra is a good one. Not as bleak as the others.
No one can make Zendaya look bad.
Eheheheh. My (female) junior high English teacher dryly noted that one of the main ways you could tell this was a myth was because of Penelope endlessly weaving, doting, and faithfullying. 😈😂
I also loved Greek mythology but didn’t enjoy “Odyssey” when I read it in high school. English was my favorite subject, so maybe I was a little too young to appreciate it yet? This looks interesting though. I might head to the theater for it. And have another go at the book.
Wow the Mediterranean sure does look dark and gloomy.
I love all of Nolan’s work, so I’ll definitely see this. I’m sure it will be a beautiful film to watch in IMAX.
I’m not sure about Nolan not having great instincts for casting women: Carrie Ann Moss in Memento, Rebecca Hall in The Prestige, Marion Cotillard in Inception, Anne Hathaway was a fantastic Catwoman, Hathaway (again) and Jessica Chastain in Interstellar, Elizabeth Debicki in Tenet, and Emily Blunt was fantastic in Oppenheimer… these are all great actresses in really good parts.
🙌
Anne Hathaway was ok as Catwoman, nothing special and Marion Cotillard was bad in batman as was Kate Holmes, some that will be Nolan’s direction as Cotillard is usually great not so sure about Holmes. The trailer does look dark and gloomy and is cut to resemble the last two batman films.
Nolan casts well, but the parts too often reduce down to Fridge Wife, Unhappy Wife, Betrayed Wife, Crazy Wife, Devoted Daughter, or Abused Wife. There is no reason in the world Debecki’s Tenet character had to be so damsel–though I will give Nolan props for Catwoman.
I’m a huge Greek mythology nerd. I’m fine with the costumes, although they’re a little bland. The helmet with the spinal column is pretty cool, though. However, the sea and the sky in the Aegean are absolutely stunning and yet here they’re gray. Odysseus was a trickster and we’re getting Oppenheimer in the Mediterranean. I’m pre-annoyed.
Jason Pargin just did a good video about this color trend, and it’s essentially that now people have been conditioned to associate this kind of muted palette with sophistication and money, and in film it signifies it’s more intellectual.
I just want to compliment Celebitchy and its commenters—such a smart, literate, politically savvy bunch that generally gathers here. I always know that between the writers and the commenters I’m going to read a lot of really interesting & informative takes on lots of different subjects, not just celebrity life. Kudos to you, Celebitchy! My only thought about the trailer is I’ve been taking a wait and see approach about Damon’s casting. Odysseus is a trickster, occasionally a con man, a schemer and fast talker as necessary. And Damon has sometimes done well in that kind of role (though usually with a Boston accent). But yeah, the trailer doesn’t thrill me. It’s giving sodden prestige. Though I’ve always found Telemachus to be kind of a whiny little punk so maybe Tom Holland (who is so generally likable) will help me adjust my attitude.