With Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” just days from its London premiere, the headline so far could be summed up as a casting controversy paired with a wave of negative reactions on YouTube.
That online firestorm has now gotten a fresh spark from Lupita Nyong’o’s answer to a hypothetical: what would she ask Homer if she ever met him?
Nyong’o, who plays Helen of Troy in the film, spoke with Jake Hamilton on his show “Jake’s Takes,” adding more fuel to the debate over whether a Black actress is suited to the role.
Hamilton posed the same general question to several of the film’s cast members. “I want you to imagine for a second that you’re in a movie theater sitting next to Homer,” he began.
“Let’s say he speaks English. Let’s say he understands what movies are, and you’re watching ‘The Odyssey’ together. When it’s over, you can turn to him and say, ‘Okay, so what did you think of how I did it?’ What part of your performance would you want his opinion on?”
Nyong’o answered: “I’d say to him, ‘So, Homer, how do you feel about the amount of time given to these women on screen, considering how little time you gave them?'”
“And then you’d lean toward him and give him that look?” Hamilton said, mimicking leaning toward the seat next to him.
“Yes. Like, ‘Hmm? Remember us?'” the actress replied.
In an earlier interview with Lauren Veneziani, Nyong’o also addressed how her role in “The Odyssey” compares to other strong female characters she’s played before.
“What Chris (Nolan) is interested in with this film is examining the cost of war. And when you read the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’, very little time is spent on the female point of view. The narrative comes from a very male perspective. But this film takes the time to look at things from the women’s point of view. So through Helen and Clytemnestra, we see how this war has affected them both. They react to it in very different ways, because their experiences are different. And for me it was really important to take the time to give them a human dimension and think about what that period might have looked like for them.”
