r/Nolan

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An expert reviews Nolan's bizarre costume designs.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has sparked a lot of discussion about how much a modern movie adaptation should change the original epic.

One interesting point: Himesh Patel, who plays Eurylochus, has talked about the backlash surrounding his casting and defended the idea of bringing different perspectives to an ancient story.

That raises a bigger question:

When adapting a story that is thousands of years old, should filmmakers stay as faithful to the original as possible — or should they be free to reinvent it for a modern audience?

Which do you prefer: faithful adaptation or creative reinterpretation?

Seriously. How were video game developers able to capture the feeling of Ancient Greece better than Nolan did?

So y'all can stop using the box office success of The Odyssey to claim that it's good

It just had a good marketing campaign and a Hollywood it list for a cast.

And loud sound effects that made you feel like you'd been emotionally moved because your ears have literally been sonically traumatised.

I'd like to share my opinion about Christopher Nolan's upcoming "The Odyssey"

For me, Troy (2004) remains one of the best films inspired by Greek Mythology because it tries to present the world in the way that feels closer to historical reality, even though it also takes creative liberties.

When adapting legendary stories, I believe historical and cultural accuracy is important. For example, ancient Greek characters such as Helen of Troy should reflect the historical setting in which the story take place. If filmmakers want to tell stories featuring African queens or princesses , history offer many fascinating figures, such as the Queen of Sheba, Andromeda (in some traditions connection to Ethiopia), or rulers of ancient Egypt (Nubia), Persia. Those story deserve to be told on their own merits.

This isn't about racisem- it's about respecting the historical and cultural context of story. Many young people don't read the original myths or historical source. They often learn about these stories through films, so movies can strongly shape their understanding of history and mythology.

I also believe the directors and screenwriters create their stronger work when they make films that genuinely resonate with them - stories connected to their experiences, passion, research, or even their family's influence. No filmmaker can be an expert on every culture, history or subject. Sometimes the most authentic and meaningful films come from creators who have a deep personal connection to material . The history tell us some example Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Oliver Stone ect.

Of Course, every one is free to interpret stories differently, and this is simply my personal opinion.

Writing this because Social Media is genuinely pissing me off.

After 'The Odyssey' came out there's a sudden trend in social media where people are calling Nolan a misogynist and claiming that he is taking producer and his wife Emma Thomas's credit and apparently he can't write women.

The last one could be a fair criticism and I don't think every female character he's written has been good but I loved how Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer was written, or Murph in Interstellar, even Circe in Odyssey was also wonderful despite the screentime.

But the misogyny accusation? I really don't understand where that is coming from.In all the films I've seen from him, I can't think of a time where women are treated as sexual objects for the audience's gratification or where female characters are deliberately exploited in that way. Not even in Odyssey, it was handled very carefully. As a woman, I genuinely appreciate that. There are fewer directors who actually do it.

He has always been an ally for women and trans people. I appreciate his casting for Sinon (played by trans actor Elliot Page) and how he was depicted as the 'Bravest man Odysseus ever knew'.

Those of us who are watching his films, we have always known Emma Thomas. She's been producing all his films alongside him for decades. Her contribution isn't some hidden secret that social media has suddenly uncovered. So this 'empowerment' feels very fucking performative and undermining her actual contribution.

Is there any kind of smear campaign going on?

The man bears some responsibility for the deaths of ten of his fans. He hasn’t even apologized in any meaningful way, and now he’s being given a platform? This is so weak from Nolan.

I honestly think it will be forgotten about in a few years

By now everyone has seen this film twice or thrice in theatres, which I have done the same to. We all have our takes on where this films shines and where it has its lows. The film is spectacularly done, beautifully made but a new interesting topic which came to my mind is from storytelling and writing and screenplay perspective how does it stand to other films? What directions would you think he would take in the future?

From my perspective, The Odyssey might be few of his films which would not age much and just over time get better and better. Although it has its flaws and inconsistencies from the Homer's epic and sometimes in its own movie itself, I think that what Nolan's film does best is capture different atmospheres and have different artistic and visual styles even though none of his films are animated. Interstellar captures vastness and isolation of space, Odyssey captures the scary and dangerous ancient greek era with a hint of supernatural, Tenet is a time travelling "mess" so to say NOT IN A BAD WAY, Oppeheimer captures the depth of discussion and work involved in making a bomb and plays out as 90's theatre drama. Inception mixes grounded realistic fiction with fantasy and The dark night films capture crime thriller and detective story while capturing the comic elements in a realistic and grounded way like most of his films.
I think that Nolan's biggest strength is to make everything work in terms of our present and realistic context, keeping it grounded but leaving room for interpretation.

What are your thoughts? I am happy to hear em!

This is the kind of truly heartbreaking thing to me that unfortunately puts Nolan's entire oeuvre into a new surprising perspective that sadly renders true to the rest of his material.

Every single one of his movies is about a man getting along in a completely broken world that cannot be fixed. Chiefly Interstellar which ironically was a Paramount Warner Bros. Co-production that would never happen under a merged company.

I rewatched The Dark Knight (my favourite Nolan film and a masterpiece) ahead of The Odyssey and read its most ardent negative reviews, among them Armond White who hates the film for a lot of the reasons you and I like it but detested the film's cynicism. I get that now and now even moreso with Nolan putting his hands up saying this ship has sailed nothing we can do. Emma Thomas said as much in a Cinemacon interview earlier this year.

And Emily Wilson's critique of The Odyssey makes a lot more sense. Presenting a world that's already gone before the film gets started. The hero has ransacked a paradise at the cost of great shame by undoing it from the inside. The film presents no solution or consequence to Odysseus himself for this and he gets to hand off the kingdom to his children and sail into the sea with his wife.

All they had to do is what Sean Astin did with SAG and simply say we support the WGA and states lawsuit and do nothing, but putting political pressure on the state AG when they are in the right and stopping a merger that violates the Clayton Act with the Philadelphia Bank Standard of theatrical monopoly AFTER all his professing about the sacredness of the theatrical experience shows he doesn't care.

Just like how he agreed to have a theatre named after him where people have to take out their cell phones to order food. He's taking steps to ensure fewer filmmakers can have what he has and under the guise of protecting jobs amid uncertainty.

It's truly all time heel turn.

Bro didn't understand that it's mythology and is open to interpretation.

There are Cyclopes in the movie. So that means every single one of his points is invalid.

Nolan was making his Odyssey. Not Homer's. And Nolan likes his armor and costumes to look stupid. And he insisted on trousers because he's a homophobe and didn't want to see exposed male legs.