In a recent interview for Channel 4 News, Christopher Nolan discussed why his upcoming adaptation of The Odyssey uses modern dialogue, rather than something more in line with the Greek epic source material. Nolan discussed that his intent was to make the material feel fresh to modern audiences, saying:
“When you look at the ancient world, people tend to view the ancient world in weird ways, and there’s a lot of cultural prejudice — elevating it just because it’s old. When you go to the poem, what you find is something that’s really earthy, grounded, and accessible. So, for me, in building the world of the film, what I talk to all the actors about is, I want to center it on that and make it feel very fresh for modern audiences and do away with some of those assumptions.”
The topic is one of several choices made by Nolan that have received backlash from several people online and on social media, the other being some of his casting decisions, such as Lupita N’yongo as Helen of Troy. Speaking of the backlash in an interview with The Telegraph, Nolan says he views it as largely “irrelevant”, saying:
“Comes with the territory. But look, these conversations that happen before people see the film — they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet.”
In that same interview, Nolan also compares the backlash he’s received over The Odyssey to that of his work on The Dark Knight Trilogy, saying:
I spent 10 years of my life dealing with Batman. When I came on to Batman Begins, writers and artists had been working on this beloved character for almost 65 years, and a lot of freighted thoughts were out there about what he represents. And what I learnt over my time on that trilogy is you can’t worry about any of that at all. What you have to do is honour the original text by interpreting it in the strongest way you personally can.”
The Odyssey is releasing in IMAX, IMAX 70mm, and other standard and premium large formats on July 17th.
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